The city of Jefferson City in Mid-Missouri has produced a few basketball legends during the 21st century.
It starts with Maya Moore, who was born in Jefferson City before moving to Georgia, where she became a high school star. She became a Hall of Famer after a stellar collegiate career at UConn and a spectacular WNBA career with the Minnesota Lynx.
Moore was followed by Napheesa Collier, who was born in Jefferson City before moving to St. Louis as a high school sophomore and becoming a McDonald’s All-American at Incarnate Word. Like Moore, she was also a star collegiate player at UConn and a current WNBA star for the Minnesota Lynx. She is well on her way to the Hall of Fame.
On Wednesday night, Jefferson City native OG Anunoby had his legendary moment in historic Madison Square Garden. Anunoby was one of the biggest stars in the biggest comeback in NBA Finals history as his New York Knicks rallied from a 29-point deficit to stun the San Antonio Spurs 107-106 in Game 4.
Anunoby scored a playoff-high 33 points, and his tip-in with 1.2 seconds left gave the Knicks a commanding 3-to-1 lead in the best-of-seven series. Anunoby inbounded the ball to Jalen Brunson, who launched a long 3-pointer that hit the front of the rim. Anunoby sprinted from out of bounds and soared over every player to tip in the ball, sending the Garden into a frenzy.
On the play before his game-winning tip-in, Anunoby made a game-saving defensive play when he executed a chase down block on the Spurs’ De’Aaron Fox with 10 seconds left to keep the Spurs’ lead at one-point.
After his stellar prep career at Jefferson City, Anunoby played his collegiate ball at Indiana. Through his pro career, he has established himself as one of the NBA’s top two-way forwards. He was a part of a championship team in 2019 with the Toronto Raptors, but he missed that playoff run due to an emergency appendectomy.
Now, Anunoby and the Knicks are one victory away from winning the franchise’s first world championship in 53 years. The series resumes on Saturday in San Antonio for Game 5. Tip off is at 7:30 p.m.
In addition to his 33 points, Anunoby was 10 of 15 from the field and a spectacular seven of nine from 3-point range.
His performance has also put him in the conversation for being the Most Valuable Player in the NBA Finals should the Knicks complete their championship run. In four games, he is averaging 23.8 points and four rebounds a game while shooting 58 percent from the field and 55 percent from 3-point range.
As a 16-year old, Anunoby played AAU basketball with the St. Louis Eagles during the summer of 2013. One of his teammates was St. Louisan Jayson Tatum, the current star of the Boston Celtics.
Speaking of the NBA Finals I think that it is a wrap. Although I am still rooting for the Spurs. I do not see the series going to a game 7. At halftime of game 4 I said that the game was not over. There was still a entire second half of basketball left to play. A double digit lead at halftime in the NBA is nothing. The talking heads in the sports media should know this. Finally I find the behavior of the so called “fans” towards Spurs player Victor Wembanyama and his teammates to be absolutely disgusting. The hooligans in New York City are going to destroy it once the series is over. It will be more disgusting behavior from the so called “fans”.