2. OG Anunoby Steps into the spotlight
OG Anunoby has never been a volume shooter. At his best during the year, he found his comfort zone as a 3&D specialist shooting an impressive 39% from deep. Last night against the Lakers, Anunoby stepped out of his specialist shoes and hopped into bigger ones as an offensive brute, scoring 23 points on 89% shooting.
Still, Anunoby didn’t shoot as much as teammates but was the most efficient knocking down a ridiculous eight of nine shots, while knocking down each three-point shot given to him in the corner.
Anunoby looked like the player the Los Angeles Lakers wanted Danny Green to be, a long defensive-minded wing with shut-down defence, something the Lakers needed sorely from Green who couldn’t make a shot the entire game. Anunoby’s defence also played dividends as he shut down Lebron and forced two turnovers from the Lakers. Anunoby also took a page out of Kyle Lowry’s playbook with him taking two charges in the first quarter.
On a more statistical note, Anunoby posted a ridiculous 17.9 box plus/minus score at 17.9, even eclipsing Kyle Lowry’s impressive BPM of 16.2. The Toronto Raptors, despite winning the Championship in 2019, sorely missed Anunoby’s game during their historic run. The 2020 Toronto Raptors should largely benefit from Anunoby should he continue to play at this level of basketball.