Toronto Raptors: Feeling the loss of guard OG Anunoby

Losing guard OG Anunoby to a surprise ailment on the eve of their 2019 NBA Playoffs run has the Toronto Raptors feeling spooked.

By seed alone, the Toronto Raptors are expected to run through their first two playoff series en route to an Eastern Conference Finals date with the Milwaukee Bucks. But before the first games tipped off, the team is already facing serious adversity.

On Thursday, forward OG Anunoby was diagnosed with acute appendicitis, requiring an emergency appendectomy. The surgery will sideline him for the first round series against the Orlando Magic, and may even sideline him for the conference semifinals as well, should the Raptors make it that far.

Anunoby doesn’t have big numbers or a flash game, but his role to the Raptors is essential.

On the offensive end, Anunoby averaged 7.0 points per game during the regular season. He pulled down a total of 2.9 rebounds per game and shot 33.2 percent from 3-point range, a slight downtick from where he was in that category during his rookie year.

The defensive end, however, is another conversation entirely.

According to Basketball-Reference, Anunoby was worth 1.7 defensive win shares, despite the fact that he averaged just a hair over 20 minutes per game and started just six times over the course of the season.

What Anunoby lacks in productivity, he makes up for in versatility. He’s the rare player who is able to defend nearly every position on the court. It’s impossible to forget him going toe-to-toe with LeBron James in the postseason last year during Anunoby’s first trip to the NBA playoffs.

The Raptors are a roster constructed of players with strong defensive reputations. Serge Ibaka, Marc Gasol, Danny Green, Pascal Siakam and Kawhi Leonard have all been major defensive studs at one point or another in their careers, and Anunoby will join those names soon enough.

That being said, the flaws in the Raptors’ defense were exposed by the Magic in their surprising Game 1 upset in Toronto. Orlando managed to put up 104 points, led by D.J. Augustin‘s 25-point performance. Those were fewer points than Toronto gave up on average this season, but still the third-most points surrendered during Saturday’s NBA slate.

Particularly noticeable was the depth of scoring coming from Orlando. Every starter for the Magic finished the game in double digits. Two bench players did the same, while every player who suited up scored at least five points — more than what could be said for the Raptors (thanks to Kyle Lowry‘s zero-point embarrassment).

Anunoby’s defensive versatility would’ve come in handy on Saturday, when one stop of any player would’ve turned a defeat into a victory.

Despite the 1-0 series deficit, the Raptors are still the odds-on favorite to move on to the second round. A 2-seed has only lost to a 7-seed five times in NBA history, and the Magic don’t have the high-level talent to keep up with Toronto for 5-7 games.

Should the Raptors survive that challenge, they could be matched up against the Brooklyn Nets, who average an Eastern Conference-best 48 points per game from the bench.

Toronto is really going to wish it had OG Anunoby for that series.