OG Anunoby wanted to go live.
He just did not want to lose a new phone in the process.
The Knicks forward explained Monday night during an appearance on “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon” what happened during his viral Instagram Live from the locker room celebration after the franchise won the NBA championship on Saturday night.
Anunoby briefly went live as the Knicks celebrated their 94-90 Game 5 win over the Spurs, which secured the franchise’s first championship in 53 years.
Champagne was being sprayed around the locker room, with Karl-Anthony Towns appearing in goggles and declaring, “We live, baby, we live.”
That was when Anunoby realized he had a problem.
“I meant to go on Live, like going on Live was my goal,” Anunoby told Fallon.
“But then they were spraying the champagne, and I just got that phone. I didn’t want the phone to get messed up, so I was like, let’s turn this off, and I didn’t know how to do it.”
During the original stream, Anunoby could be heard repeatedly asking how to end the video before the clip cut out after roughly 25 seconds.
The explanation got a laugh from Fallon and his Knicks teammates, who were on the show as part of the team’s post-title media tour.
Anunoby said someone eventually took the phone and helped him turn off the stream.
The moment quickly became one of the funnier scenes from the Knicks’ championship celebration, partly because of how calmly Anunoby appeared to panic while the rest of the locker room was in full party mode.
It also fit the forward’s low-key reputation.
Anunoby has become a fan favorite in New York not only for his defense and clutch postseason moments, but also for his dry personality and understated postgame interviews.
His defining moment in Game 4, when he tipped in the winning shot at Madison Square Garden to give the Knicks a commanding 3-1 series lead.
But amid all the champagne and chaos after Game 5, Anunoby had a more immediate concern.
He had meant to bring fans inside the celebration.
Anunoby just had no idea how to get out of it before his new phone got soaked.