O.G. Anunoby emerges as a key player for the Knicks on defense.

HOUSTON – Andrew Nembhard flew past Jalen Brunson and was met with a bear attack.

O.G. Anunoby, as he often does on the perimeter, abandoned his assignment and lunged at Nembhard with a quick two-handed strike taken from a crouching wrestler.

“He’s lashing out,” Josh Hart said. “He’s in the abyss. He foresees. I’ve never seen anything like it.”

Nembhard, the Pacers guard, didn’t want to play Anunoby in the second quarter of the Knicks’ win last week.

He retreated off the dribble, taking a couple of steps behind the 3-point line before abandoning any plans to test that side of the defense.

Nembhard switched to a pick-and-roll with Karl-Anthony Towns’ Myles Turner, and the sequence ended with an Indiana turnover.

“Nemhard was like, ‘Wow,'” Hart recalled Friday. “He was surprised.”

Nembhard’s train of thought is easy to follow.

He fell into a bear trap in the first quarter.

This time, Nembhard took a small step toward Mikal Bridges and drove to left-center, spinning as Anunoby lay low and lunged at the ball with his characteristically low center of gravity.

“I don’t consider it gambling. I think it’s aggressive,” said Anunoby, whose wings are quite large at 7-foot-2 on his 6-foot-7 frame but look even longer when he lunges to hit the dribbler’s legs. “And make the attack uncomfortable. Don’t just let them do whatever they want. Just trying to get them to back off or get the ball.”

Aggression, calculated risk, whatever you want to call it, Anunoby has earned the presumption of innocence.

In five games, and especially in three wins, he again demonstrated the defensive versatility and instincts that forced the Knicks to hand him the richest contract in franchise history, worth $212.5 million.

More so than Bridges, who has also been a reliable defender after a terrible opening night in Boston, Anunoby is both strong and quick enough to put 90 percent of NBA players in the game, give or take. For example, in Wednesday’s win over Miami, he defended Jimmy Butler, Bam Adebayo and Terry Rozier.

“(OG) is doing some wild stuff on that side of the ball,” Brunson noted.

Two days later, coach Tom Thibodeau was ecstatic as Anunoby helped the Pistons commit 22 turnovers.

“We know how valuable he is to us,” Thibodeau said. “To me he is priceless.”

Anunoby’s natural comparison is Luol Deng, an easy jump due to his connection to Thibodeau.

Deng was Thibodeau’s “invaluable” cornerback in Chicago more than a decade before Anunoby took the position.

But Thibodeau doesn’t often make comparisons, and in Anunoby’s case, he avoided it.

“Every guy is unique and has something unique and different about him: his size, his strength, his speed, his anticipation, his ability to read and see the future,” the coach said. “When you see things ahead, it makes you faster. And this leads to great violations. And he can read plays. If someone is fluent with the ball, they are very active with their hands. He is destructive off the ball but is very good on the ball and very long. This way he can fly past you, come back into play and still hit.

“His pick-and-roll defense is unique. And then the fact that he can switch on everyone. This is what makes it very unique. And I think that’s great for our team.”

On a roster with two offensive stars in Brunson and Towns, both of whom have defensive weaknesses, Anunoby’s presence masks the warts.

That was the intent of pairing Bridges and Anunoby on the wings, a duo brilliantly dubbed “Wingstop” by Hart on Friday night, a play on a string of chicken wings.

Anunoby’s biggest concern throughout his career has been his health.

He has missed at least 30 games in three of the last four seasons.

Just five events into the campaign – with two days of rest before Monday’s competition in Houston – so far so good. Anunoby ranks third in minutes (35 per game) and leads the Knicks in steals.

“I’ve never seen a man hold a ball with both hands,” Towns said. “I’ve never seen anything like this. His athleticism, his anticipation. But also just technique. The way he does that in one game is something that a lot of NBA players can’t do.”