AND Anunoby (left ankle sprain) is probable for the Knicks‘ Game 2 against the Hawks on Monday, New York Post’s Stefan Bondy reports (via Twitter).
Bondy writes that, according to coach Mike Brownthe two-way wing went through practice today.
Anunoby left Game One in the second half due to aggravating the preexisting ankle injury, but was able to return to play. He finished the game with 18 points and eight rebounds while playing 38 minutes in the win.
“He came over to the bench and asked me if I could do (the spiritual healing) for his ankle; then he sat over there for a second, came back in the game and finished the game,” said teammate Jordan Clarksonaccording to SNY’s Ian Begley. “Like I said, we need him on the floor so whatever I gotta do to keep it going… sprinkle a little magic on him.”
Anunoby has proven himself worthy of the investment that the Knicks made in him, and nights like Saturday illustrate why, Begley notes (Twitter video link).
We have more from the Knicks:
Hawks head coach Quin Snyder called Karl-Anthony Towns a mismatch for his team’s big man rotation, Kristian Winfield writes for the New York Daily News. “It’s a little bit of pick your poison, you know,” Snyder said. “How do you handle him on the post with a mismatch? Do you just guard him? How do you handle pick and roll? How do you handle him and Brunson on pick a roll? I think for us to be prepared for all those situations, you can adjust every time down the court.” Mr. Okongwu did a solid job of guarding Towns in the first half, despite giving up a good amount of size, but Towns eventually overwhelmed the team, which is thin at center after the loss of Jock Landalefinishing the game with 25 points, eight rebounds, and three blocks. Mike Vaccaro of the New York Post called it “the full KAT experience.”
While Snyder struggled to figure out how to contain Towns, his approach to containing Mitchell Robinson by resorting to Hack-A-Mitch limited the crucial reserve to just 15 minutes, Peter Sblendorio writes for the Daily News. Robinson went 1-for-4, and, crucially, didn’t record an offensive rebound. Robinson played 60 games this season and only failed to get on the offensive glass twice.
Despite heavily investing in defensive-minded wings, it was 6’4″ Josh Hart who took the primary defensive assignment on Hawks’ star Jalen Johnsonlimiting him as effectively in Saturday’s win as he did during their final regular-season matchup, Steve Popper writes for Newsday (subscriber link). “One of the things Jalen is really good at is the pick-and-roll game and he does a great job rejecting screens and making it hard to anybody playing the pick-and-roll game,” Brown said. “So we just wanted to see if we can cause a little confusion. Just as much as putting Josh on Jalen, it’s OG on (Onyeka) Okongwu … You’re not gonna stop those two guys, they’re gonna do what they do, but you hope to temper them a little bit or at least have a chance to control it a little bit.”
Comments are closed.