With at least one more game remaining in the NBA Finals, the MVP award is OG Anunoby's to lose. While Jalen Brunson is the superstar focal point of the New York Knicks and Karl-Anthony Towns has been outstanding over the first four games, it is Anunoby, the former Toronto Raptor, who most deserves the Michael Jordan Trophy.
It is not just Anunoby's all-time moment Wednesday, when he tipped in a Brunson miss to cap the biggest comeback in NBA Finals history. It is not only his unreal 55.6% shooting on three-pointers in the series (15-for-27, with more made threes than Brunson and Towns combined) and 23.8 points per game so far. One also has to factor in that Anunoby has been even more impactful defensively than unanimous defensive player of the year Victor Wembanyama. Like he used to do with the Raptors, Anunoby has successfully guarded lightning quick guards (De'Aaron Fox will have nightmares about Game 4), wings, and even the gigantic Wembanyama.
He made game-turning plays down the stretch Wednesday and capped it with the tip that will never be forgotten should the Knicks win one more game. “I don’t know if there’s a play bigger than any other play in the history of Knicks basketball,” head coach Mike Brown said of Anunoby’s tip.
Towns has been a beast in three of the four outings and Brunson is averaging 29.5 points per game, which probably would have been enough to win Finals MVP in many eras. But voters are smarter nowadays and have more information at their disposal. Anunoby’s remarkable efficiency on offence, compared to Brunson’s sub-40% shooting, should be enough alone. Once you add in he has been equally good defensively, it is no longer a contest.
What a story. Anunoby famously had to sit and watch the Raptors win the 2019 title without him as he recovered from an emergency appendectomy. He yearned for another chance, this time as a contributor. But could even Anunoby have seen this coming? A starring role on Broadway? You can’t make this stuff up.
With the FIFA World Cup commencing, Towns even harkened back to the great Diego Maradona when describing Anunoby’s tip-in: “Right hand from God,” Towns said after the game. If the Knicks can win another game in this series, Anunoby would win his second championship, tying him with Chris Bosh as the only Raptors draft picks in franchise history to win more than one NBA title. Only two other Raptors picks (Pascal Siakam and P.J. Tucker) have even won one championship, though several acquired on draft night accomplished the feat, including Matt Bonner (twice with San Antonio), Norman Powell, and Fred VanVleet.
He drove this victory for New York. Anunoby returned to the game with the Knicks down 11 with 7:14 left. He immediately hit a three-pointer, got a steal, and assisted Towns on a bucket. Just like that, the deficit was nine and the Knicks had all the momentum, having shaved off 20 points. Later he hit a three to cut the Spurs’ lead to four. He blocked Fox with 11.1 seconds left, down a point, and then finished out the victory. “He gave us a chance to win, and that’s all you could ask for from the best two-way player in the NBA,” Towns said of Anunoby. Of course Anunoby said: “It was cool,” a staple from his time with Toronto. Mikal Bridges said more: “Unbelievable. He’s different, man. I’m happy he’s on my team.”
Do the Spurs have a problem with Fox? Many Spurs might not be happy Fox is on their team. The Spurs have a big problem not just in this series, but moving forward, one they could never have anticipated. Fox was a disaster who cost them Game 4. He made mistake after mistake down the stretch, forcing a layup which he missed, turning the ball over repeatedly before that, double-teaming Brunson which left Anunoby free to collect his first offensive rebound of the series to win the game. The Spurs traded for Fox in February of 2025 thinking he’d be an ideal long-term piece alongside Wembanyama and eventual rookie of the year Stephon Castle. They gave him $229 million on an extension, too. Of course they then won the second pick last summer and were gifted Dylan Harper, one of the top prospects in the game who has turned heads during these playoffs. Harper is the future in San Antonio as Wembanyama’s No. 2 (though Castle is excellent, too). But what do they do with Fox? Admit the unknowable mistake or cut into his minutes starting the rest of this series and next year with Harper getting a boost? Fox had a good Game 2, but has been borderline unplayable the rest of the time (to be fair, he’s banged up). He shot 4-for-14 in Game 3 and 3-for-13 in the opener. He was pretty bad most of the Thunder series too in the last round.
Fun with numbers: New York is only the second team to win two games in a single NBA Finals by one point. Golden State in 1975 is the other. The Knicks also came back from down 16 in the fourth quarter in a game against Cleveland in the conference final. San Antonio had the biggest halftime lead by a road team in a Finals game ever and also hit 14 threes in the half, the most by any team ever in the Finals. The Knicks led for only 53.8 seconds, the second-lowest amount of time in a Finals win.
