TORONTO – The 2018-19 campaign has been a snake bit one for Toronto Raptors forward OG Anunoby.
The second-year man missed 15 games this season and the entire post-season thus far because of personal issues, concussion-like symptoms and, most recently, an emergency appendectomy after being diagnosed with acute appendicitis just one day before the start of the playoffs.
Anunoby hasn’t played since a relatively encouraging nine-point, five-rebound effort on 4-for-6 shooting in the regular-season finale against the Minnesota Timberwolves.
Now, 54 days since that nearly completely meaningless affair in Minneapolis, Anunoby will be active for Raptors head coach Nick Nurse in Game 2 of the NBA Finals.
“He is going to be activated tonight,” Nurse said. “I don’t probably see much of a chance to play him, but you never know. You never know what could happen and he is a big, strong, athletic guy, and a situation might arise.”
This is exciting news for both Anunoby and the Raptors, in general, as it gives Nurse another wing option to go to in the event Norman Powell or Patrick McCaw might not have it on any given night as these Finals progress.
Nurse doubts Anunoby will be able to get into Game 2 Sunday, but if he does, it’ll likely be on a minutes restriction.
“I usually think when a guy’s off for a long time I would say to him it’s probably going to be a three-or-four-minute burst because I think that that’s probably, with the speed the way the game’s moving at this stage of the season, what they could handle.”
This is a wise decision by Nurse because, at the very least, Anunoby should still be able to make something of an impact defensively, as his willingness on that and his natural size, strength and length are things that should be rust-proof.
To expect much more would be a fallacy and the Raptors need look no further than the play of Golden State Warriors centre DeMarcus Cousins in Game 1, who showed just how shaky a player coming back after a long lay-off can look when trying to find their footing again in the Finals.
Cousins finished Thursday’s opener with three points on 0-for-2 shooting and picked up two fouls in eight ineffective minutes that saw him finish the game as a minus-1.
This is the NBA Finals, there’s no room for even a chance of a negative rating in any minutes.
So, unless Anunoby’s completely ready to contribute out there, it’s better to be safe than sorry.
Anunoby’s snake-bit season just seems to continue, even when there’s finally some good news to be had.
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