{"id":679628,"date":"2026-05-18T23:54:09","date_gmt":"2026-05-18T23:54:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/679628\/"},"modified":"2026-05-18T23:54:09","modified_gmt":"2026-05-18T23:54:09","slug":"knicks-og-anunoby-reportedly-playing-in-game-1-against-cavs-in-eastern-conference-finals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/679628\/","title":{"rendered":"Knicks’ OG Anunoby reportedly playing in Game 1 against Cavs in Eastern Conference finals"},"content":{"rendered":"

After missing the final two games of the second round with a left hamstring strain, New York Knicks<\/a> forward OG Anunoby<\/a> is \u201cgoing to be playing in Game 1\u201d of the 2026 Eastern Conference finals against the Cleveland Cavaliers<\/a>, ESPN\u2019s Shams Charania reported Monday.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s the most important thing to come out of the second round for [the Knicks],\u201d Charania said during an appearance on \u201cThe Pat McAfee Show.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The Knicks then listed Anunoby as \u201cprobable<\/a>\u201d for Game 1 Monday afternoon.<\/p>\n

Anunoby suffered the injury late in Game 2<\/a> of the Knicks\u2019 second-round series against the Philadelphia 76ers<\/a>. He exited that game, a 108-102 Knicks win<\/a>, with two and a half minutes remaining in the fourth quarter and was later diagnosed with a hamstring strain. The initial reporting<\/a> suggested Anunoby had avoided a serious injury<\/a> and was considered day-to-day rather than week-to-week.<\/p>\n

Still, New York erred on the side of caution, holding Anunoby out of Games 3<\/a> and 4<\/a> in Philadelphia<\/a>. The Knicks won both, securing a sweep that granted them an extended rest ahead of the conference finals \u2014 a period that allowed Anunoby to heal up while the Cavaliers and Detroit Pistons<\/a> contested a series that wound up going the distance.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThankfully for [the Knicks], it was a sweep, allowed him to rest,\u201d Charania said Monday. \u201cAnd now, because they were able to get even more additional days, he\u2019s going to be good to go for Game 1 tomorrow night.\u201d<\/p>\n

Anunoby returned to practice<\/a> last week and was a full participant<\/a> in New York\u2019s on-court work over the weekend. He told reporters at the Knicks\u2019 practice facility Saturday that he\u2019s feeling good ahead of the team\u2019s second consecutive trip to the NBA\u2019s final four, and that this hamstring issue hasn\u2019t felt as acute or problematic as prior injuries like the one he suffered in November<\/a> or during the 2024 Eastern Conference semifinals<\/a> against the Indiana Pacers<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt didn\u2019t feel as bad as the past when it happened,\u201d Anunoby said, according to Brian Mahoney of the Associated Press<\/a>. \u201cSo knowing that, just trying to improve it day by day.\u201d<\/p>\n

As the ninth-year veteran has ramped back up during the Knicks\u2019 wait, he hasn\u2019t appeared to lose a step, according to teammate Mikal Bridges<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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\u201cHe\u2019s been back and he looks good to me,\u201d Bridges told reporters<\/a>. \u201cSo I think maybe the crowd, maybe the fans and media worried a little bit more, but I know how OG works and how his body is, so I think he\u2019ll be all right.\u201d<\/p>\n

Anunoby was much better than \u201call right\u201d before the injury, getting off to a roaring start to the 2026 postseason. The 28-year-old is averaging 21.4 points, 7.5 rebounds and more than six combined steals, blocks and deflections per game in the playoffs, shooting a scorching 67% on 2-pointers, 54% on 3-pointers and 81% from the foul line, all while playing elite on- and off-ball defense across multiple positions. That two-way performance has Anunoby grading out as one of the top<\/a> performers<\/a> in the playoff field, according to multiple<\/a> advanced<\/a> metrics<\/a>; getting him back in the fold at full strength would be a major help in New York\u2019s effort to return to the NBA Finals for the first time since 1999.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI think everyone\u2019s excited for the games to start, so just letting the other series play out,\u201d Anunoby said Saturday, according to Mahoney<\/a>. \u201cSo if it was tomorrow \u2014 it\u2019s going to be Tuesday now \u2014 just be ready whenever it is.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After missing the final two games of the second round with a left hamstring strain, New York Knicks…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":679629,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[574],"tags":[64,63,726,17603,7214,320111,7221,12834,1666,9275,5136,9688,18419,85],"class_list":["post-679628","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-basketball","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-basketball","tag-cleveland-cavaliers","tag-detroit-pistons","tag-eastern-conference-finals","tag-indiana-pacers","tag-mikal-bridges","tag-new-york-knicks","tag-og-anunoby","tag-philadelphia","tag-philadelphia-76ers","tag-shams-charania","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/679628","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=679628"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/679628\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/679629"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=679628"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=679628"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=679628"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}