His good friend DeMar DeRozan ranks No. 3 with 113 points, but was knocked out of the play-in by the Miami Heat for the second year in a row. Valanciunas also adds all players in play-in rebounds
Meanwhile, Valanciunas, who is now 3-2 in terms of advancing out of the play-in to the playoffs, collected 13 points and 20 rebounds in 29 minutes in a tough 94-92 Game 1 loss to the Thunder.
Canadian Shai Gilgeous-Alexander nailed the winner, but Valanciunas was dominant at times, once again bringing the Thunder’s chief weakness front and centre — a lack of size up front. Nobody expects the Pelicans to win the series, but Valanciunas is going to punish Chet Holmgren and Co.
Valanciunas has always produced, dating back to his time in Toronto, but as the game went away from traditional big men, his minutes suffered. That was the case under Dwane Casey and Nick Nurse with the Raptors and it’s the same thing now. But it doesn’t seem to bother one of the NBA’s best teammates.
“JV has just been a professional,” Ingram told reporters. “Not only (Friday vs. the Kings), but throughout the season. Him not touching the floor sometimes in the second half (of games), not being in the game as much, he’s always got a smile on his face. He’s always trying to hype (a teammate) up. That’s hard to do, when you’ve been in the league so long and been producing so long.”A player who logged tons of minutes alongside Valanciunas, Pascal Siakam, is helping the Indiana Pacers as much as he can, though he isn’t getting nearly enough help. Siakam, who was Toronto’s best player before the franchise handed the keys to Scottie Barnes, scored a game-high 36 points — the most Siakam has ever scored in the playoffs — and shot 60% from the field and grabbed 13 rebounds. But the Pacers lost by 15 and every other Pacers except for Tyrese Haliburton shot under 50% in the game. Even Haliburton wasn’t himself, scoring only nine points. The Pacers dealt for Siakam thinking he was the missing piece and while Milwaukee looks vulnerable with Giannis Antetokounmpo either out or not 100%, Siakam can’t do it all himself.
Finally, after missing much of the final swath of the regular season, OG Anunoby is back and contributing at both ends for the New York Knicks. New York went up 2-0 on Nick Nurse-coached Philadelphia thanks in part to Anunoby’s defensive work. Tom Thibodeau has been playing Anunoby a lot (including 37 minutes in Game 2) and while nobody has been able to slow NBA most improved player award winner Tyrese Maxey, Anunoby at least makes every opponent work for every bucket. That includes long-time Raptors teammate Kyle Lowry, who Anunoby guarded at times in a quiet Game 2. Lowry was strong in the opener, with 18 points.
Anunoby wanted a bigger role on offence than what he had in Toronto, but is mostly waiting for Jalen Brunson to find him as a Knick. Anunoby has shot 9-for-20 in the two games for 21 combined points and has collected four rebounds in each game, but has only hit 1-of-6 three-point attempts. He’s shown in the past he can do more and we’d expect Anunoby to be a bigger contributor as the Knicks roll forward.
Anunoby’s teammate Precious Achiuwa, who came along with him from the Raptors and played well as a rotation big man in New York, has fallen out of the mix with Mitchell Robinson now healthy.
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