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Anunoby 'sure' about Toronto's

​chance to make deep playoff run

Jefferson City High School graduate O.G. Anunoby is now a rookie in the NBA with the Toronto Raptors.

April 17,2018

During his playing days with the Jefferson City Jays, O.G. Anunoby was quietly dominant --- loud with his performance on the floor, meek and mild off it.

Mimes talked more than O.G.

He was the same with the Indiana Hoosiers. Now, he's made it to The Show, the NBA, where the custom is to be loud and proud.

But not our O.G. He's the same quiet, polite young man he's always been ... and will likely always be.

And this also hasn't changed --- he's a great basketball player. Only now, he's proving himself on the biggest stage with the planet's greatest players.

Having said that, Anunoby has not experienced a culture shock in his first season in the NBA.

"I'd been told stuff coming in, so I kind of knew what to expect," the 6-8, 235-pound Toronto Raptors rookie said in a brief one-on-one interview Monday evening. "I knew there was going to a lot of talented players and that it was going to be a lot of fun, too."

Anonoby played in 74 regular season games and started 62, averaging six points and two rebounds and still showcasing lock-down defender skills.

"I'm pleased with the season I've had so far," he said.

Likewise, so are the Raptors. Toronto went 59-23 this season, earning the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference and the second-best record in the NBA. That's important because the Raptors tied the Houston Rockets for the best home record in the league at 34-7.

"It's a good group of guys," Anunoby said. "We like each other and we play well together. Everyone just wants to see everyone else succeed, that's how we mesh so well."

Toronto opened the playoffs Saturday with a 114-106 win over the Washington Wizards, as Anunoby scored 12 points in 22 minutes (his season-high is 21).

Anunoby said he didn't know about the Raptors' hard-to-believe streak of 10 straight Game One playoff losses. He also didn't feel the intensity of the game changed dramatically --- as most believe --- since the playoffs have started.

"We'd played big games before, we had the urgency before," he said. "So we were prepared coming in."

Anunoby says he's fully recovered from a knee injury he sustained last year at Indiana, which cut short his final season with the Hoosiers. He also said the biggest adjustment to the NBA came not with the level of talent he'd see, but with the 82-game schedule.

"It's tiring, but you get used to it."

As for the postseason, how far can the Raptors go?

"We can win the championship," Anunoby said. "For sure."

Coming from O.G., that's saying a lot.

Photo courtesy of Toronto Raptors