The Knicks’ first-round victory over the Hawks relied on the offensive output of their best defender to take them over the top. OG Anunoby stepped out of the role player spotlight and assumed the role of leading man, Howie Kussoy writes for the New York Post.
The 6’8″ wing had 29 points and seven rebounds in the record-setting Game 6 victory, a performance that epitomized his play throughout the matchup. Over the course of the series, he averaged 21.5 points and 8.7 rebounds while hitting 56.7% of his threes and playing versatile defense on Atlanta’s best scorers.
“[He was] just doing everything — scoring, defense, rebounding, making plays,” said Mikal Bridges. “He’s doing everything out there and that’s what we need. And I think he’s gonna continue to do that for us.”
It was a performance impressive enough to beg the question if we should be thinking about Anunoby more as a third star than another elite role player, writes Jake Nisse for the Post.
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The Knicks have struggled at times to establish their toughness, often operating as more of a finesse team than a one built on brute force, but in Game 6, Mitchell Robinson showed his ability to play enforcer, Kristian Winfield writes for the New York Daily News. It was a message he was trying to show since Game 1, when he wrote “Standing on business” on the tape wrapping his ankles. An altercation with the Hawks’ Dyson Daniels brought all of that to the front again. “Mitch is a big part of our locker room. What he does on the court — obviously y’all know he impacts winning, and he does a lot of things that sometimes don’t end up on the stat sheet, but makes us come out with a W,” Karl-Anthony Towns said.”So, Mitch is very vital for our locker room, for our team, and we’re always gonna support him. We’re always gonna stand behind him when he wants to, I guess – quote-unquote – ‘stand on business.’”
After a brutal start to the series, Bridges found the range offensively in Game 6, and may have recaptured some of his usual swagger, the Post’s Stefan Bondy writes. Bridges ended the game with 24 points on 10-12 shooting, hitting big momentum shots throughout the game. “He just did what he’s capable of doing,” coach Mike Brown said. “Now, is he going to go 10-for-12 every night? No. But he was aggressive and took great shots. And it shouldn’t go unnoticed that his defense was phenomenal. … A big night on both ends of the floor by Mikal.”
Jose Alvarado got to experience a special moment in the Game 5 victory over the Hawks, as his hometown crowd sang “Jose, Jose, Jose” while he was being subbed out in the third quarter, Peter Sblendorio of the Daily News writes. It’s a feeling he isn’t taking for granted. “It’s amazing,” Alvarado said. “I can’t really put it into words. I always had a Knicks jersey on. I always think, ‘This is crazy.’ But it’s a good feeling. I’m excited to be in the city I’m from and compete for a championship.” Alvarado wasn’t just a hometown kid in the series though, he was an impactful player off the bench, culminating with his Game 5 performance, when he scored 12 points in 11 minutes.
