PORTLAND, Ore. — The Knicks’ easy victory and Jalen Brunson’s masterpiece were overshadowed by the appearance of OG Anunoby in obvious discomfort with 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, and was frustrated as he played 36 minutes.
In that sense, the night was a microcosm of the seasons.
Brunson was outstanding, making 14 of 30 field goals and scoring 45 points. The Knicks defeated another bad team and improved to 24-3 against sub-.500 opponents. They won their second straight game and remained in fourth place in the East, a full game ahead of the fifth-place Magic.
But once again, concerns have been raised about the health of one of their most important players.
To be clear, the Knicks did not confirm that Anunoby was injured during the game, nor did he go to the locker room.
He finished with 12 points, but there were encouraging signs that this was just a tweak.
However, I had surgery a little over a month ago. Then an incident occurred at the Moda Center.
With 3:35 left in the second quarter, Anunoby tried to strip Portland’s Deandre Ayton. The steal was successful, but Anunoby quickly grabbed his elbow and showed audible pain.
He spun to the sideline holding his elbow and was fouled eight seconds later and ejected. Anunoby was being attended to by a trainer on the bench, his elbow wrapped.
The 26-year-old, who became a free agent this summer, played the remainder of the first half and returned to action after the break.
But he was visibly uncomfortable on the court, fidgeting intermittently and bending his elbows. The fact that he continued to play (9 1/2 straight minutes to start the second half) was probably a good sign, especially since it included two dunks. But he then returned to the bench for further treatment, discussions with the training staff and further work on wrapping his elbow.
He played 10¹/₂ minutes in the fourth quarter and watched Brunson defeat Portland with 24 points in the second half.
Anunoby, a common denominator in the Knicks’ best stretches of the season, underwent arthroscopic surgery in early February to remove a loose bone fragment from his elbow. He missed 18 consecutive games, during which the Knicks went 8-10.
Anunoby returned to action against the Sixers on Tuesday, and his defensive dominance highlighted Anunoby’s influence in the win. But he also has a long history of injuries and illnesses, which limited him to fewer than 70 games over the past five seasons with the Raptors. He missed all of Toronto’s 2019 playoff game for the championship due to a ruptured appendix.
Thursday is the first game of the Knicks’ longest remaining road trip, which includes dates in Sacramento, Golden State and Denver.
On paper, the Blazers (19-47) are the easiest. Not only are they a bad team at full strength, they were severely undermanned on Thursday. All four of their best players were absent: Jerami Grant (hamstring strain), Malcolm Brogdon (elbow tendinitis), Shaydon Sharpe (abdominal surgery), and Anfernee Simons (knee tendinitis).
So the Knicks (39-27) took the job. It just took a little time to warm up. They trailed by seven points within five minutes of tipoff, then trailed by four points in the early seconds.
Brunson helped the Knicks go on a 15-4 run to take the lead.
