Looks like we just found what OG Anunoby needs to be a successful player in the NBA: to be the starter. He started a majority of the games for Toronto last year, including all their playoff games. And he was good. Not great, but good. His raw stats didn’t do justice to how much he helped his team win.
He hasn’t had that this year. Kawhi Leonard is to blame for that; he is like Anunoby, except way better at everything. Such a thing could happen to anybody. Like if the Lakers signed a new player who was exactly like LeBron except he averaged 60/30/30 with DPOY-quality defense and had hair that wasn’t implanted, LeBron would see a big minutes reduction. That’s basically what happened to Anunoby, and it’s hurt his productivity.
He got the start tonight, and rewarded his coaches for their faith in him with a 15-point first quarter. No one with a working brain thought that he would keep it up, but he did manage to scrape together enough other buckets during the rest of the game to match a career-high with 21 points. And just in time too, because I think Raptors fans were starting to get really discouraged with his play. That bench they had last year just isn’t the same with Anunoby in place of Pascal Siakam.