Anunoby was focused on the road ahead after the Knicks blowout win at Madison Square Garden.
The New York Knicks aren't just winning games right now, they're sending a message about where they're headed.
After Friday night's 136-96 demolition of the Chicago Bulls at Madison Square Garden, OG Anunoby kept things simple when asked about the team's mindset heading into the final stretch of the regular season.
"Just executing on both sides," Anunoby said. "You know, and trying to build as we get ready for the playoffs."
Anunoby Lit Up the Garden
If that quote sounds understated, the performance that came before it definitely was not.
Anunoby poured in 31 points on 9-of-15 shooting and went 7-for-10 from three-point range, tying his career high for made threes in a game.
He added eight rebounds and a block while playing just 30 minutes because the game was so far out of reach by the fourth quarter that the Knicks pulled their starters.
New York led by as many as 47 points on a night where Chicago simply had no answers.
What made the win even more impressive is that the Knicks did it without Karl-Anthony Towns, who sat out with a right elbow impingement.
Mitchell Robinson stepped into the starting lineup and went 7-for-7 from the field on his way to 17 points and 11 rebounds, while Jalen Brunson was his usual efficient self with 17 points and 10 assists in a game that never really felt competitive.
Chicago's starters were outscored 84-42, and the Bulls fell to 29-48 on the season while dropping their sixth straight.
Building Toward Something Bigger
For the Knicks, who improved to 50-28 with the victory, this was more than just another win over a bad team.
It was their third consecutive season reaching 50 wins, something the franchise hadn't done since the early 1990s when Patrick Ewing was leading them to the NBA Finals.
They sit in third place in the Eastern Conference, just two games behind the 51-25 Celtics with four games left to play.
The question surrounding this team all year has been whether their streaky play would hold them back in the postseason.
New York won the NBA Cup back in December, then stumbled through a brutal 2-9 stretch in late December and January before rattling off a seven-game winning streak in March.
They dropped three in a row after that, beat Memphis on Wednesday, and then absolutely buried Chicago on Friday.
The ups and downs have been wild, but the talent on this roster is not something anyone should take lightly.
Brunson is averaging 26.1 points and 6.7 assists per game this season and has proven time and again that he can carry the offense when it matters most.
Anunoby is putting up 16.9 points and 5.3 rebounds per game while playing the kind of two-way basketball that makes him one of the hardest matchups in the league.
And with Josh Hart's three-point shooting opening up everything for the rest of the offense and Robinson proving he can fill in admirably when Towns needs a night off, this Knicks roster has the depth and versatility to give anyone trouble in a seven-game series.
Why You Should Still Fear the Knicks
Anunoby's postgame comments were short and sweet, but the meaning behind them was pretty clear.
This team knows what it's capable of and is focused on putting the pieces together at the right time.
When the Knicks are locked in on both ends and sharing the ball like they did Friday night, they look like a team that can beat anyone in the East.
The playoffs are right around the corner, and if Friday was any sign of what's coming, nobody should want to see this group in the first round.