OG Anunoby shining in role as Knicks’ defensive stopper: ‘He’s a freak of nature’

Brandon Miller got better, and OG Anunoby noticed.

As the Knicks’ go-to defensive stopper, tasked nightly with shutting down the league’s top scorers, he’s attuned to even the slightest improvements in his opponents’ games.

So when Miller, the standout guard for the Charlotte Hornets, erupted in the first quarter at Madison Square Garden on Thursday, Anunoby couldn’t help but be impressed.

There was the hesitation drive that drew an and-one — Anunoby, himself, the culprit of the swipe-down foul. Then came the nasty spin move to lose Anunoby before a two-handed thunderous tomahawk at the rim. There was also a smooth 3-pointer that ripped through the net as Anunoby chased just a second too late over the screen.

All in the first quarter. All to help a shorthanded Hornets team build a 12-point lead.

Like each one of Anunoby’s assignments as the lockdown defender on a Knicks team with championship aspirations, Miller got better, and he tested his skills on Thursday.

“All great players. It’s fun to watch them before, watching their film. I enjoy watching every player,” Anunoby said after the Knicks’ 125-101 win. “It’s fun to see them grow and get better each year, and then whoever the player is, see how good they are, and then also it’s fun to try to stop them, make it as difficult as possible.”

And then it happened. Anunoby turned the water off. After Miller hung 16 first-quarter points, he scored only 10 more for the remainder of the game. And after a 6-of-8 shooting performance in the opening quarter, Miller finished the night 9-of-19, making just three of his final 11 shots.

It’s what Anunoby does, and it’s why a 25-point scoring night quietly flies under the radar, because the Knicks’ silent scorer is anything but quiet on the defensive end.

“The plays that he was making, he’s the only one that can make them,” said head coach Tom Thibodeau. “He’s everywhere. He’s flying around. He’s into the bodies, and when he’s like that, he just covers so much ground. His timing, you can’t throw the ball over him. He challenges shots great. He’s a guy with great, great instincts. He played a terrific game.”

**

With 90 seconds left in the first half, Miller tried shaking free from Anunoby’s grasp.

Fun time, for him, ended with the opening period.

To Anunoby, Miller was just another name on a long list of defensive assignments. Only two nights earlier, he defended Franz Wagner, on a heater as the focal point of an Orlando Magic offense missing Paolo Banchero due to injury.

And four nights before that, Anunoby held Miller to 20 points on a miserable 7-of-25 shooting from the field. He has seen it all, and wears the responsibility of chief defensive stopper as a badge of honor.

“That’s not only the talent he possesses defensively, but that’s the belief of everyone in this locker room including the coaching staff. We know what OG can do. We believe it. The coaches believe it. And the best part about it, OG believes in his defensive talent as well,” Karl-Anthony Towns said after the game. “We know whenever they have a great player, we feel really good about our chances having OG Anunoby, and we’ll support him in every possible way because every night for him is a tough matchup, and we just want to do our job to help him and make him the best possible player he can possibly be.”

On this play, Miller was away from the ball in the corner.

He faked toward a screen then cut to the paint. Anunoby didn’t budge, so Miller did it again, this time faking back to the corner before flaring up to the top of the key.

But Anunoby beat him to the spot.

This time, the ball came, and Anunoby tipped the pass to himself and won a foot race up the floor for a fastbreak dunk.

It was another stop on Miller, whom he stripped of the ball just a few minutes earlier, first leaving him to help on a Vasilije Micic drive to the rim, only to recover back to Miller in time to tip the pass and swipe it away from the Hornets’ star scorer.

Miller made a three over Anunoby’s contest with 2:36 left in the first quarter, a shot that put the Hornets up by 10. By the time he made his next shot over Anunoby, he was cutting a 23-point deficit down to 20.

“I think we all know in this locker room the talent OG possesses,” said Towns. “I think he’s one of the best two-way players in the NBA, defensively, offensively, he affects the game. So I’m just glad he’s getting this moment here in the Mecca, New York, to show the world the talent that we all see.”

**

Anunoby has contested 171 shots through the Knicks’ first 22 games, according to data from NBA.com.

Those are the most contested shots by a player who is not a center, with Sacramento’s Keegan Murray 20 contests shy at No. 2 and Boston’s Derrick White a distant third.

Anunoby leads the NBA in contested 3-pointers and leads all non-centers in contested 2-pointers. His 79 deflected passes rank third behind De’Aaron Fox and Dyson Daniels, and he’s tied for sixth in loose balls recovered.

You don’t get these numbers guarding just one player every game. On Thursday, Anunoby defended Miller, but all the Hornets players sharing the floor felt his impact.

With 2:15 left in the third quarter, Miller missed a three contested by Precious Achiuwa, and Anunoby boxed-out Hornets center Nick Richards. The rebound caromed to the corner to Charlotte guard K.J. Simpson, and Anunoby left Richards to close-out and block Simpson’s three out of bounds.

Seconds later, the Hornets inbounded the ball, and Anunoby found himself guarding Cody Martin, who created some separation with a hesitation into a step-back to the left wing. Anunoby recovered and swatted Martin’s three out of bounds for two blocks within eight seconds of game time.

The Madison Square Garden crowd erupted. Anunoby, all smiles, high-fived fans sitting on the court.

“He’s just a freak of nature, getting those blocks,” said Mikal Bridges. “I wish my hands were that big. He’s been OG since he’s been in the league, I’ve been watching him. Really dope.”

“I think plays like that unite and inspire the team. You can feel it,” added Thibodeau. “When a guy makes a great, multiple effort, it’s inspiring to everyone.”

And then comes the difficult part: flushing the performance.

On Saturday, the Knicks will face the Detroit Pistons, which means minutes defending future All-Star Cade Cunningham. And on Tuesday, Anunoby will return to his old stomping grounds in a trip to Toronto, where he’ll have to take turns defending Scottie Barnes and R.J. Barrett.

Then it’s Trae Young and Jalen Johnson in a showdown with the Atlanta Hawks. Eventually, it’ll be Giannis Antetokounmpo, or Jayson Tatum, or Paul George: the best player on any team standing in-between the Knicks and an NBA title.

Anunoby said there are individual accolades he’s angling for this season but declined to share them.

He has only been named to one All-Defensive Team in his career, and it was the Second Team in 2023.

Towns couldn’t believe it. For Anunoby, getting stops is nothing new, but maybe getting stops at the World’s Most Famous Arena will help him get the recognition he deserves.

“That is surprising,” said Towns. “He has All-Defensive Teams in his future, so he’ll make it up.”

Recognition, of course, isn’t what’s on the forefront of his mind. There’s only one day of rest between games, and for Anunoby the grind never stops. One way or another, he’s going to get the opponent’s best. And he must be prepared. The team is counting on it, though they know Anunoby will be ready, and as a result, his assignment had better be, too.

“I find out the matchup, watch the film, and then also my memory from playing them before,” Anunoby said. “Just from watching games, seeing what they like to do — just trying to make them uncomfortable.”