BOSTON — The equation is simple for the Knicks with OG Anunoby in the playoffs.
Between last year and this year, the Knicks are a perfect 8-0 in postseason games when Anunoby attempts 14 or more field goals. Conversely, they are 4-8 in games when he attempts 13 or fewer field goals.
Game 1 was a perfect example, as Anunoby poured in 29 points on 10-for-20 shooting from the field — including 6-for-11 shooting from 3-point range — in the Knicks’ 108-105 overtime win over the Celtics on Monday night at TD Garden.
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“With our play style and those kinds of things, obviously it highlights [Jalen Brunson], it highlights [Karl-Anthony Towns]. I think at times we can feature OG and [Mikal Bridges] a little bit more,” Josh Hart said Tuesday. “I knew [Anunoby] always had the ability to knock down shots. Even last year, some of his shots — his midrange, stepbacks, stuff like that — but I feel he kind of took it to another level when [Brunson] went down.
“And the NBA is so situational, because he’s capable of having huge scoring nights and sometimes his number is not called. But when his number is called, he rises to the occasion. And we’re comfortable with giving him the ball and obviously catch-and-shoot and isolation matchups when he’s in the post, the mid-post, or at the 3.”
Anunoby has always been one of the league’s best defenders, and the Knicks gave him the biggest contract in franchise history over the offseason. That commands more than a defensive stopper. That requires an all-around star.
And Anunoby has taken the scoring part of his game to another level this year.
He averaged 12.0 points and 9.6 field goal attempts per game in the seven years of his career before this season.
Then in the regular season this year, he averaged 18.0 points on 13.9 field goal attempts per game.
He became even more aggressive in the 15 regular-season games Brunson was sidelined with an ankle injury, averaging 23.2 points on 16.8 field goal attempts per game.
It provided the Knicks a blueprint on how to generate offense without Brunson — particularly through Anunoby.
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It has since paid dividends — Anunoby is averaging 19.0 points on 15.0 field goal attempts this postseason.
“We have to make sure we do a good job on him,” Celtics center Al Horford said after practice Tuesday. “He’s shooting the ball very well. He just had a really big game for them, impacting with his scoring. We have to make sure we do a better job in trying to take some of those away from him. But gotta give him credit, he played really well.”
