OG Anunoby Breaks Out In Victory Over Pacers

The Toronto Raptors got a breakout performance from OG Anunoby in a 107-102 victory over the Indiana Pacers on Sunday

It's understandable if Toronto Raptors fans are beginning to get a little greedy.

Year after year the Raptors have watched undrafted players and overlooked prospects turn into NBA contributors and stars. First fans caught the tail end of Kawhi Leonard's exposition superstardom. Once he left, Pascal Siakam and Fred VanVleet jumped into the All-Star conversation. The most unusual and rare developmental stories have seemingly become commonplace in Toronto. 

This year, all eyes turned to the 23-year-old OG Anunoby. The expectations seemed once again to be sky-high. Could lightning strike again? Could the Raptors turn the former 23rd overall pick into an NBA All-Star? If Sunday afternoon's 107-102 victory over the Indiana Pacers is any indication, the answer is yes.

Anunoby has already proven to be an elite 3-and-D player. He's the type of prospect every NBA contender is looking for. He'll defend the opponent's best player and he knows his role offensively.

Quick list of the guys OG Anunoby has spent at least 3 minutes guarding this year: Zion, Brandon Ingram, Julius Randle, Duncan Robinson, DeRozan, Ben Simmons, Jaylen Brown, Gordon Hayward, James Wiseman, Bam Adebayo, and Luka Doncic among others. https://t.co/fw2d8KkaqZ

— 𝐀𝐚𝐫𝐨𝐧 𝐑𝐨𝐬𝐞 (@AaronBenRose) January 23, 2021

"Well, again I don’t really have a comparison player for him," Nurse said. "He’s kind of a little bit unique that way because he guards all positions and we’re just seeing some expanse of his offence."

Coming into Sunday he had shot 18-for-31 from 3-point range over his last five games. Seemingly overnight he flipped the switch, increasing his 3-point shooting percentage from 27.5% over the first nine games of the season all the way to over 40% ahead of Sunday afternoon. It took a lot of extra work in the gym, Anunoby said.

"Working on form close to the basket and then stepping out and then just repeating the same shot," Anunoby said.

With Pascal Siakam and Kyle Lowry both out against the Pacers, Anunoby showed there might be a little bit more to his offensive arsenal than just 3-point shooting. He took advantage of some extra offensive reps, attacking the rim and playing off the dribble a little more. He shot 9-for-16 from the floor, leading the team with a game-high 30 points including a pair of free throws to ice the game for the Raptors in the final seconds. All that offensive work of course came with five steals and eight rebounds.

"He’s been working his butt off and I’m just happy it’s been going well for him," Fred VanVleet said of Anunoby. "I think the biggest improvement for him offensively has been the kinda in-between stuff, he’s always been a good spot-up shooter, obviously always been great defensively, dunking the ball, but some of those in-between shots over contact in traffic, they’re going in now and it doesn’t really look super pretty but he’s finding a way to get it in and he works on that every day."

Norman Powell once again slid into the starting lineup replacing Lowry who remained out with a toe infection. He, of course, continued his unusual splits as a starter putting up 20 points with a bigger offensive load.

Stanley Johnson slid into the void left by Siakam's left knee injury. While he didn't make much of an offensive impact, he held his own against two of the NBA's best interior players in Myles Turner and Domantas Sabonis.

Up Next: Indiana Pacers

The Raptors will be right back at it on Monday for the second game of a back-to-back with the Pacers