Knicks takeaways from Tuesday's 112-84 win over Trail Blazers, including OG Anunoby's big night at The Garden
The Knicks routed the Portland Trail Blazers, 112-84, on Tuesday night to push their winning streak to five games since acquiring OG Anunoby in a trade with the Toronto Raptors.
Here are some takeaways...
- Back at Madison Square Garden following a two-game road-trip, Tom Thibodeau stuck with the red-hot starting five consisting of Jalen Brunson, Donte DiVincenzo, OG Anunoby, Julius Randle, and Isaiah Hartenstein.
- Playing in front of the hometown crowd for just his second time since being traded to the Big Apple, Anunoby got off to a strong start, knocking down five of his first six shots for 16 early points while also picking up a rebound and a steal.
- Miles 'Deuce' McBride was the first man off the bench for New York, subbing in for Brunson about halfway through the first, and he carried over his hot shooting from the road trip by knocking down three quick baskets for eight points of his own.
- A 13-2 run over the final few minutes of the opening frame helped the Knicks push their early advantage up to 16 points. They simply couldn't do any wrong on the offensive end in the first quarter, shooting 51 percent from the field and 46 percent from behind the arc.
- New York carried the hot shooting over into the second frame, as a three from Brunson and two more from Quentin Grimes capped off an 11-0 run and helped stretch the advantage up to as many as 24 points, the largest lead of the night.
It stayed that way heading into the halftime break, as the lead sat at 63-41 after two quarters. Every Knick who entered recorded a point during the first half and they shot 42 percent from the field while racking up 15 assists and out-rebounding Portland 31-18.
- The Knicks got off to a bit of a sluggish start coming out of the halftime break, but seven straight points courtesy of a Hartenstein slam, DiVincenzo corner three, and a pretty Anunoby lay-in helped them settle back in. New York's domination continued from there, as both teams decided to empty their benches with the advantage sitting at 97-61 heading into the final frame.
- The Knicks' second-unit, which struggled up until the last few games, was rolling over the final few minutes of the game. Grimes popped a three and added a layup plus the foul to up his total to 17 and McBride drilled a corner three of his own to help him finish with 16 points.
- Malachi Flynn checked in and made his MSG debut with just under four minutes remaining in the game.
- Overall, it was another terrific all-around effort from this group, but they were particularly dominant on the defensive end, holding Portland to just 84 points on 38 percent shooting from the field.
Anunoby finished his big night with four rebounds, a block, a steal and a game-high 23 points on 9-of-12 shooting from the field and 4-of-6 from behind the arc. He's the first player in NBA history to post a +/- greater than +100 in the first five games with a new franchise (+111).
With the blowout, Brunson had a relatively quiet night, scoring just 12 points, but he did pick up seven assists coming off his terrific Eastern Conference Player of the Week stretch.
Randle finished with a line of 20-7-8, DiVincenzo drilled three threes en route to 13 points of his own, and Hartenstein's terrific play continued with 14 rebounds.
What's next
The Knicks have a tall task ahead of them as they head back out on the road to take on Luka Doncic and the Dallas Mavericks on Thursday at 7:30 p.m.
