CLEVELAND – For the second year in a row, and the third time in his career, OG Anunoby was recognized as one of the NBA’s best defensive players.
The two-strong wing was named to the NBA’s all-defensive second team by a panel of 100 voters, it was announced Friday night.
Anunoby has now made the second team three different times. Knicks coach Mike Brown and teammate Karl-Anthony Towns have said in recent weeks that Anunoby deserves a first-team selection.
“His versatility is off the charts and he can do so many things defensively because of him,” Brown said. “In my opinion, he deserves a first team defense this year – and hopefully the powers that be will see it that way.”
That didn’t happen.
The first teams selected were Rudy Gobert of the Timberwolves, Chet Holmgren of the Thunder, Victor Wembanyama of the Spurs, Derrick White of the Celtics and Ausar Thompson of the Pistons. Anunoby received 11 first-team votes.
The Knicks are two wins away from their first NBA Finals appearance in 27 years, and head to Cleveland with a chance to bury the Cavaliers.
But Mike Brown is worried about one thing, the manager.
“I don’t know what to do with the free throw line. It was 22-6 in the second half,” the Knicks coach said after his team’s comfortable Game 2 victory. “We’ll go back and watch film, and maybe we were playing poorly, but that’s a big difference when you’re talking about 22-to-6 free throws.”
“Maybe we were playing badly and they weren’t there, I don’t know.”
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Overall, the Cavaliers attempted 18 more free throws, 32 to 14, than the Knicks in Game 2. In the series opener, the Knicks hit the line more, 32 to 23.
The Cavaliers, it should be noted, rank second among the 16 playoff teams in free throws attempted at 28.8. Only the Nuggets (30.2) got to the line more.
Donovan Mitchell insisted he was healthy after Game 2, even though his coach, Kenny Atkinson, felt he was “trying to work through that — maybe some strain” in the first half of the Cavaliers’ loss.
“But I asked him if he wanted to come out in the fourth quarter and he’s like, ‘I’m fine,’ so I think he’s fine,” Atkinson said.
Asked on Thursday about his health, Mitchell said: “I’m good.
The Knicks have held the opposition to under 100 points six times in the playoffs. Of the remaining teams, the Spurs have done so five times and the Cavaliers and Thunder twice each.
According to the team, the Knicks’ watch parties have raised more than $350,000 for Garden of Dreams, a local youth charity. The Knicks will host another watch party at the Garden for Game 3 on Saturday night. Tickets are $10.
