PORTLAND, Oregon – An easy victory for the Knicks and a Jalen Brunson masterpiece were overshadowed by the sight of OG Anunoby feeling obvious discomfort in his surgically repaired elbow.
The team’s defensive stalwart appeared to aggravate his right elbow in the second quarter of Thursday’s 105-93 win over the short-handed Trail Blazers, unable to hide his irritation for 36 minutes.
Yet the 27-year-old played down any concerns in the post-match dressing room, saying the pain was anticipated and he was not going to miss the next game.
“It’s just painful. Nothing really happened,” Anunoby said. “I just went to play ball. And it randomly hurts, but it’s okay.
Asked about his availability Saturday in Sacramento, Anunoby said, “I wasn’t thinking about not playing.”
In many ways, the night was a microcosm of the season.
Brunson was spectacular in scoring 45 points, making 14 of his 30 field goals.
The Knicks battled against a bad team, improving to 24-3 against sub-.500 opponents.
They won their second straight game and remained fourth in the East, a full game ahead of the No. 5 Magic.
But once again there are concerns about the health of one of their most important players. At least in this case, the Knicks — Anunoby and coach Tom Thibodeau — have gone on record saying the pain isn’t a big deal.
“There will be times when there will be pain. He played until the end,” Thibodeau said. “He was fine. [The doctor] looked at him. There will be times when it gets hit and you just try to keep going. So we’ll see where he is.
Anunoby finished with 12 points and downplayed his discomfort, even with his surgery less than two months in the rearview mirror.
“It’s not even about pain tolerance,” Anunoby said. “It’s just a random thing.”
With 3:35 left in the second quarter, Anunoby was able to strip Portland’s Deandre Ayton.
The flight was successful but Anunoby quickly grabbed his elbow and audibly expressed his pain.
He spun towards the sideline holding his elbow and was substituted eight seconds later after a foul. Anunoby was assisted by a trainer on the bench and had his elbow wrapped with a heating pad.
Anunoby, a free agent this summer, sat out the rest of the first half and returned after the break.
However, he clearly felt discomfort from fidgeting and intermittently bending his elbow on the field.
The fact that he continued to play – logging 9 1/2 straight minutes to start the second half – was probably a good sign, especially since it included two of his dunks.
But then he returned to the bench for more treatment, a discussion with a member of the training staff and more action on heating pads.
He played 10 ¹/₂ minutes in the fourth quarter, watching Brunson punish Portland with 24 second-half points.
Anunoby, the mainstay of the Knicks’ season highlights, underwent arthroscopic surgery in early February to remove a loose bone fragment from his elbow.
He has missed 18 straight games – with the Knicks going 8-10 during that stretch.
Anunoby returned for Tuesday’s blowout against the Sixers, a defensive dominance that underscored Anunoby’s impact on the victory.
But Anunoby also has a long history of injuries and illness, which has limited him to fewer than 70 games over his last five seasons with the Raptors.
He missed Toronto’s entire playoff run in 2019 due to a ruptured appendix.
“There are going to be bumps and bruises every game,” Thiobodeau said. “And then you check after the game, you check in the morning. But we expected there to be bumps and bruises like that [with Anunoby’s elbow].”
Thursday was the first game of a longer road trip remaining on the Knicks’ schedule, with upcoming dates in Sacramento, Golden State and Denver.
On paper, the Blazers (19-47) are by far the easiest.
Not only are they a bad team overall, but they were severely undermanned on Thursday.
Four of their best players – Jerami Grant (hamstring strain), Malcolm Brogdon (elbow tendonitis), Shaedon Sharpe (abdominal surgery) and Anfernee Simons (knee tendonitis) – were all out.
The Knicks (39-27) therefore took care of business.
It just took them a little time to warm up.
They trailed by seven within five minutes of the tipoff, then trailed by four at the start of the second.
The Knicks followed with a 15-4 run, led by Brunson, that put them up for good.
“What can you say? It’s amazing just watching him,” Thibodeau said of Brunson’s performance. “He finished with 17 free throws, and I thought there could have been a lot more , but he’s just smart. He’s shifty. And he does everything. He keeps moving. He creates a lot of good attacks for us.
