The New York Knicks were not given much of a chance in their second-round series against the Boston Celtics. After all, they went 0-4 against them in the regular season, and three of those losses weren't particularly close. But in Game 1, the Knicks came out with a vengeance, overcoming a 20-point deficit in the third quarter to grab a 108-105 victory in overtime.

As per usual, it was Jalen Brunson who did the bulk of the damage for the Knicks; he scored a team-high 29 points and drew the defensive attention of Jrue Holiday, the Celtics' best defender (among many elite defenders). But it wasn't just Brunson who powered the Knicks to victory lane. OG Anunoby, who's not as big-time of a scorer as Brunson, matched him point per point, scoring 29 as well on 10-20 shooting from the field (6-11 from deep) — including a monster dunk over Jayson Tatum in overtime.

When Anunoby fills up the scoring column, this usually means good things for the Knicks. In fact, as pointed out by StatMuse on X (formerly Twitter), the Knicks have now won five consecutive games in which Anunoby has scored 25 points or more.

Anunoby has scored 25 points or more this season (including playoffs) a total of 17 times, and during those games, the Knicks have gone 12-5 — a win percentage of nearly 71 percent. That would have been good for a 58-win season and the fourth-best record in the association.

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It usually means good things whenever Anunoby racks up the points. It means that his shot is falling at an efficient level and that he's providing high-level complementary play for the Knicks. Typically, the responsibility to lead the offense falls on Brunson and Karl-Anthony Towns' shoulders, but when Anunoby is firing on all cylinders as well, the Knicks become very difficult to stop.

Knicks steal homecourt advantage with Game 1 comeback

Featured image Knicks Mikal Bridges

OG Anunoby was instrumental in the Knicks' comeback Game 1 win; he had just six points at the halftime interval but he proceeded to score 23 points in the second half (including overtime). Anunoby rose to the occasion while Jayson Tatum struggled from the field and the Celtics, as a result, relinquished the 20-point lead (72-52) that they held in the middle of the third quarter.

This Knicks win further proves that the regular-season is far from a concrete indicator of how a certain matchup would go come playoff time. And they will look to keep it going when Game 2 of the series comes along on Wednesday night.