Not only did the Knicks see their five-game winning streak come to an end, they also lost OG Anunoby to a sprained right foot in a 128-112 loss to the Lakers Saturday night at Madison Square Garden.
Anunoby suffered the injury in the third quarter and didn’t return.
Head coach Tom Thibodeau said X-rays were negative and he was unsure if Anunoby would undergo an MRI exam.
Anunoby also dealt with an injury in the second quarter before returning.
And then in the third, he caught a pass and was looking to attempt a 3-pointer, but took a step and stumbled awkwardly.
He was steadied by LeBron James, who was guarding him on the play.
Play was stopped and Anunoby grabbed his lower leg. He left the court under his own power as he headed straight to the locker room.
At the time of the injury, Anunoby had a team-high 13 points and was replaced by Precious Achiuwa.
The 27-year-old Anunoby has dealt with injuries throughout his career, but had appeared in all 48 games for the Knicks this season — along with Mikal Bridges — averaging 16.4 points and helping make Tom Thibodeau’s defense run.
When he arrived to the Knicks last season in a trade from Toronto, they won 12 of 14 games before he went down with an elbow injury in late January. After missing six weeks, Anunoby returned, but injured his left hamstring in the Eastern Conference semifinals and didn’t return in the season-ending series loss.
He’s played more than 50 games in a season just once since 2019-20, when Anunoby appeared in 67 games for the Raptors two years ago.
the Knicks’ loss to the Lakers. @sny_knicks
Prior to the game, Thibodeau praised Anunoby’s defense, as well as that of Bridges.
“Their strength has always been long, athletic, defensive-minded guys,’’ the head coach said. “[They’re] strong on both sides of the ball [and] bring that to the team. And it’s also their teammates and being tied together.”
And Thibodeau noted the work the entire unit did together, led by Anunoby and Bridges.
“It’s one, you have a system because everyone has to understand what you’re trying to do,’’ Thibodeau said. “So you have to work together. Then you try to look at what the individual strengths are of each player. And you try to apply those.
“So hopefully you have team responsibility, but play to your strengths. So they are gifted in a lot of different ways. In terms of long, can guard multiple positions so that puts you in switching situations each more but also understanding what each guy likes to do. So you can’t just randomly run all over the place otherwise the whole defense will break down. So it’s everyone working in unison.”
