Mike Brown has got a bone to pick with the selectors about the All-Defensive First Team, specifically the omission of OG Anunoby.
“Hey, y’all, I got one more thing before I’m taking off,” Brown told the reporters on a zoom call. “You guys can all print this. Great players out there. I’m not discounting anybody. But freakin’ OG [Anunoby] got robbed. He should’ve been First Team All-Defense. First Team All-Defense.”
Since mid-January, The Knicks have allowed fewer points per possesion than ANY other team in the league – something that Brown thinks Anunoby has had a huge impact on.
“The versatility that he brings — and everybody always says, ‘Oh, you got [Karl-Anthony Towns], you got Jalen, blah, blah, blah.’” Brown said. “The versatility that [Anunoby] brings to this team is off the charts, and I hope the voters get it right the next time around.”
He added, “I’m happy he’s Second Team. He deserves something,” Brown said. “But it was wrong.”
Anunoby himself said Sunday he was happy to be recognised.
“I feel like I’ve been a great defender for years,” Anunoby said. “So anytime you get recognition — recognized by coaches or the media, your peers, whatever — it’s really cool. Second Team is cool.”
But was striving for more.
“I was hoping I got First Team,” Anunoby said. “I thought I should have got First Team. But Second Team, it’s good. Just as good.”
He added, “There’s a lot of great defenders in the league, so to be recognized as one of the 10 premier ones is really cool in itself,” Anunoby said. “So, just happy, and now I’ll just focus on the rest of the playoffs.”
Knicks captain Jalen Brunson echoed the First team narrative.
“I mean, yeah, he’s well-deserving of it,” Brunson said. “He’s been tremendous, obviously, defensively. Him being able to guard 1 through 5 on any given night has really been a big part of who we are and what we’re allowed to do on defense, because of him. Any publicity is good publicity, but I think he was well deserving of that First Team.”
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