OG Defensive Wizard
Photo: Special to the NY Beacon
By Samori Benjamin
The Knicks continued their dominate ways at home last Thursday night with a 125-101 win over the Charlotte Hornets. For another night all five Knicks starters scored in double figures. Led by game highs of 27 points and 16 rebounds center for Karl Anthony Towns. Charlotte was without their best play LaMelo Ball, who is averaging 31.1 points per game this season, due to a calf injury. The Knicks have now won their last four home games by an average of 25 points and they have won nine of their last eleven games. “They’ve made a conscious effort to move the ball and to create advantages,” Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau said of his team’s offensive performance. “I think the more you help somebody else the more you’re helping yourself. Making the extra pass to get a great shot, and that takes everyone working together, and I think they’re all doing that, and the unselfishness has been terrific. We got to continue to do that. We’re going to score a ton of points and then when we get our defense going, those easy baskets, we’re scoring in transition off that as well.”
The Knicks welcomed back big man Precious Achiuwa off the bench as he played his first minutes of the season following an injury. Achiuwa, who was a big part of the Knicks team last season after the New Year, part of the OG Anunoby trade, finished with two points and four rebounds in 12 minutes. The Knicks now have a record of 14-8. Next up for them is a matchup Saturday night against the 9-15 Detroit Pistons at Madison Square Garden.
The Knicks followed up that win and fell flat losing to the Detroit Pistons 120-111 as guard Cade Cunningham led the Pistons with 29 points. 5 other teammates scored in double figures with Malik Beasley chipped in with 23 points. New York gave up an uncharacteristic 39 points in the first quarter. Knicks guard Jalen Brunson was listed as questionable but ended up playing 44 minutes and scored 31 points. Said Brunson, “l was good enough to play once the game time decision came around.”
Monday night, the Knicks traveled to Toronto to take on the Raptors and came away with a road 113-108 win. Karl-Anthony Towns led the Knicks with 24 points with Mikal Bridges adding 23 points and Brunson scoring 20. New York jumped out to 34-27 first quarter lead and held off Toronto as the Knicks were outscored 30-22 in the fourth quarter. Ex-Knicks RJ Barrett led all scorers with 30 points but in the end, OG Anunoby defense on Barrett down the stretch made the difference. “OG just has a knack for making plays defensively,” said Brunson. “When it looks like no one can make the play, he just does it. Night in, night out. That’s what he does.”
The New York Knicks continue their quest for the NBA Cup when they took on the Atlanta Hawks Wednesday night at Madison Sqaure Garden. They went on the road Thursday night to face the Minnesota Timberwolves.
Sports Editor Andrew Rosario contributed to this article.
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