NFL
By: Greg Rector
Toronto Raptors fans and NBA fans, in general, are seeing OG Anunoby’s reaching his potential at last. Long thought of as a good defender, he is currently progressing into the realm of being one of the very best defenders in the league. In his last five games, he’s held the likes of Kevin Durant, Donovan Mitchell, Luka Doncic, Jimmy Butler, and Dejounte Murray to their lowest outputs of the season. As anyone who knows me can tell you, I absolutely love seeing great defense being played. The Raptors or any other squad when they do have those “lockdown,” stretches (3 to 5 minutes) where opponents get no points is my basketball nirvana. On Raptors broadcasts play-by-play man Matt Devlin’s refrain of “OG Oh MY,” has been heard a lot more this season at both ends of the floor.
O.G. Anunoby’s defense over his last 5 games:
Donovan Mitchell: 2/7 FG (28.6%)
Luka Doncic: 5/12 FG, 2 turnovers
Kevin Durant: 2/6 FG, 4 turnovers
Dejounte Murray: 1/5 FG (20%)
Jimmy Butler: 1/4 FG, 2 turnoversDPOY type stuff 😮💨 pic.twitter.com/WoTfPQjBzj
— NBACentral (@TheDunkCentral) November 29, 2022
Defense
In four of those games, the Raptors’ roster was missing Pascal Siakim and others. As anyone who watches the NBA knows the first order of business in Toronto is a tenacious team defense which turns into a lot of easy fast break points. Even when at full strength it’s Anunoby who gets the opponent’s best player to defend against. In the last game against the Cleveland Cavaliers, it was Anunoby who ended Donovan Mitchell’s streak of 121 straight games with 10 or more points. What’s been so impressive due to all the injuries Toronto has been dealing with Anunoby hasn’t been able to comfortably switch with the likes of Siakim or even Scottie Barnes. He’s had to fight through screens and stick to his primary responsibility. No player in the NBA has defended as many isolations play as Anunoby has. 20% of those he has caused a turnover (Leads the league in steals) and the opponents are shooting 25% in those circumstances.
When the Raptors recently played the Dallas Mavericks, it was Anunoby’s responsibility to defend the guy at the top of the MVP ladder Luka Doncic. He played 43 minutes including all 24 in the second half. For that game, his stat line was 24 points, 9 rebounds, 2 steals, and 2 blocks. I would say he earned his paycheck. “He’s an amazing player” – Luka Doncic on O.G. Anunoby who he calls one of the nicest players in the league. Doncic averages 24 shots a game, in both games against Toronto this season he was held to just 15 attempts in each game.
The Raptors have yet to play either Boston (Tatum and Brown) or Milwaukee (Giannis and Middleton) in both those cases they tend to use multiple defenders and “wall,” off Giannis especially. You can bet though OG Anunoby will be used to disrupt them as much as possible. Against the Celtics, Scottie Barnes has been a demon against Tatum some of which was due to Anunoby missing games. That’s been his issue in prior seasons. staying healthy has been a big reason he wasn’t given more consideration as a DPOY. Here’s the reason I bring that up. In the 2019 NBA title run Anunoby was on the sidelines due to an injury. He watched the guy he gets compared to so much these days Kawhi Leonard, Leonard, and Anunoby are like watching a mirror image on the court. They both play tenacious defense and seem emotionless while doing so. You can’t tell if the Raptors are up by 20 or down by that number. Leonard’s influence on a young Anunoby was obvious.
Offense
Here’s the even bigger factor with OG Anunoby and his contributions to the Raptors in 2022.OG Anunoby is averaging 22.5 ppg, 6.2 RPG, 2.5 APG, and 2 steals since Nov. 4th (Pascal’s injury against Dallas) and shooting a career-high 70% near the basket. Since Leonard left for the Clippers, Raptors fans have long recognized Anunoby as “Baby Kawhi,” defensively. Now when they see his offensive production much closer to what Leonard was doing back then the nickname is more appropriate than ever. This is where OG has grown the most as a player. Far too often Anunoby seemed reticent to assert himself at the offensive end. Not this season. Partly due indeed to so many others missing in action, but even with Siakim’s return against Cleveland, Anunoby has not been shy at getting to the basket. The mid-range game still has room to improve but he is a solid three-point shooter and FINALLY is willing to keep the ball for himself when he has the opportunity to drive to the hole. How is this for a good company to be in? Players in NBA history to average 2.4+ SPG, 1.0+ BPG, and 18+ PPG: Michael Jordan (x3) Ron Harper (x2) Hakeem Olajuwon David Robinson Scottie Pippen OG Anunoby (this season), keeping up that level for the next 3/4’s of the season would be amazing.
The best part for me though is Anunoby does this all without being a braggart, he’s so quiet on social media that his first Instagram post in two years went viral so quickly. He is simply a quiet guy who doesn’t trash talk, he doesn’t seek the spotlight. All he does is put out his best effort night after night in order for the Toronto Raptors to compete with the league’s best. He might have been an Indiana Hoosier, but he sure does exemplify my driving force in basketball philosophy “The Carolina Way.” Let’s just hope that he avoids the injuries this season and that he gets more respect around the NBA media landscape. His numbers now match the hopes Raptors fans have had for him for a long time.
As always find me on Twitter @GregCowboys
