Numbers give clear picture of how much OG Anunoby has shut down Celtics

The numbers, by this point, have become staggering.OG Anunoby — the centerpiece of the Knicks’ defense since he was acquired in December 2023 — hasn’t just prevented the Celtics from scoring.

They’ve avoided taking shots altogether when matched up against him.Boston superstar Jayson Tatum went just 1-for-7 from the field across nearly 17 minutes with Anunoby as his primary defender during the first two games of the Eastern Conference semifinal series — and he attempted just one shot in all of Game 2 with that matchup, according to the NBA’s tracking data.The rest of the Celtics are 6-for-27 with Anunoby as their primary defender.

Jaylen Brown, Boston’s No.2 scoring option, collected a percentage marginally better than Tatum’s at 2-for-7.Anunoby’s defensive reputation followed him from the Raptors to the Knicks, from the place where he tasted a championship six years ago to the one where he served as a potential missing piece.

And one year after a hamstring injury limited him to parts of three games against the Pacers in the second round, Anunoby has anchored the Knicks’ defense to help them take a stunning 2-0 lead entering Saturday’s Game 3.“It’s not easy,” Jalen Brunson said Friday after the Knicks practiced in Tarrytown.“Those are great players over there, and so we have to be able to help him out.

He’s been doing a phenomenal job, and as teammates, we have to help him.”Last month, in the final days of the regular season, Anunoby declared he should win Defensive Player of the Year.He collected the best defensive rating among Knicks starters during the regular season (112.3), and once the playoffs arrived, when individual possessions increased in importance, Anunoby delivered again.Tatum has shot just 28.6 percent and recorded just 36 points in the series, admitting Thursday he needed “to be better.” Though Mikal Bridges generated plenty of attention for stealing the ball from Brown on the final possession of overtime i...