PHILADELPHIA \u2014 OG Anunoby\u2019s injury return timeline took a concerning left turn ahead of tipoff on Friday.<\/p>\n
The Knicks listed Anunoby, who sustained a right hamstring strain in the waning minutes of their Game 2 victory over the 76ers on Wednesday, as questionable for Game 3 before head coach Mike Brown ruled him out ahead of tipoff on Friday.<\/p>\n
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Brown said Anunoby is day-to-day. When asked, however, whether or not Anunoby can run, Brown deferred to Knicks PR, which responded: \u201cNext question.\u201d<\/p>\n
Anunoby limped off the Madison Square Garden floors with a few minutes left in the Knicks\u2019 108-102 Game 2 victory over the Sixers on Wednesday. The Knicks subsequently ruled him questionable to play in Game 3 with a hamstring strain before Brown ruled him out 90 minutes ahead of tipoff on Friday.<\/p>\n
Brown started backup guard Miles McBride in place of the injured Anunoby for Game 3.<\/p>\n
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\u201cObviously [Miles] being able to pick up [full-court], it helps because obviously gives whoever he\u2019s guarding a different look than, if they\u2019re [being guarded by] myself,\u201d said Josh Hart. \u201cI\u2019m 31, with some miles. I\u2019m not picking up full [court]. So that gives a different look. Turning someone a couple of times at that point, trying to chew a little bit of the shot clock. So it all helps.\u201d<\/p>\n
Anunoby averaged 21.5 points on 61% shooting from the field and 51% shooting from 3-point range in the Knicks\u2019 first-round series against the Atlanta Hawks. He scored 18 points on 7-of-8 shooting from the field in Game 1 against the Sixers and had 24 points, five rebounds, four blocks and a steal prior to his injury in Game 2.<\/p>\n
Ahead of tipoff, Brown said nothing changes with Anunoby out of the rotation.<\/p>\n
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\u201cNo matter who\u2019s in or out \u2014 Mitch [Robinson] was out for us last game \u2014 we just have to go out, try to do our job, whatever our job is,\u201d Brown said. \u201cNobody has to do anything extraordinary. And so defensively and offensively, it\u2019s the same with OG being out. You know, it\u2019s going to be a collective effort for everybody to step up. And, you know, you always talk about next man up, and that\u2019s what it is during this time of year or the regular season.\u201d<\/p>\n
That, however, could merely be lip service talking around the inevitable reality that is Anunoby\u2019s importance to the Knicks\u2019 success on both ends of the floor. The Knicks are 110-54 in games Anunoby has played since the Dec. 30, 2023 trade that sent R.J. Barrett, Immanuel Quickley and a second-round pick to the Toronto Raptors and boast just a 27-24 record in regular-season games he\u2019s missed. In the playoffs, the Knicks are 22-13 with Anunoby on the floor and 1-3 without him.<\/p>\n
\u201cObviously things change a little bit,\u201d said Hart. \u201cHe\u2019s a great defensive player. So it just means guys that are playing are going to have to step up, cover for each other.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Sixers head coach Nick Nurse was Anunoby\u2019s former head coach during their shared time with the Toronto Raptors. After raving about Anunoby ahead of Game 2, he repeated a similar sentiment at the Xfinity Mobile Arena before Game 3.<\/p>\n
\u201cFirst of all, OG\u2019s been unbelievable. He\u2019s been amazing both in the Atlanta series and in this series. He has been as good as I\u2019ve ever seen him. He just keeps getting better and better, it\u2019s a testament to him to continue to just keep playing,\u201d said Nurse. \u201cHe guards every position. His shooting\u2019s been great, now he\u2019s even, his cutting game is great.<\/p>\n
\u201cI guess I\u2019ve gotta see what happens, which way they go [with Anunoby out]. They could go both ends of the spectrum. They could go big, really big. Or they could even go really small. So I just gotta see what happens and how it impacts it if he doesn\u2019t play. But let\u2019s hope he\u2019s out there, I\u2019m a big fan of OG\u2019s.\u201d<\/p>\n
Anunoby averaged 16.7 points, 5.2 rebounds and 1.6 steals on 48% shooting from the field and 38.6% shooting from 3-point range under Brown this season with the Knicks.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PHILADELPHIA \u2014 OG Anunoby\u2019s injury return timeline took a concerning left turn ahead of tipoff on Friday. The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":432748,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[100172,138841,85,202913,46,28626,166979,1948,202912,202910,120185,202911,105,194069],"class_list":["post-432747","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-76ers","tag-atlanta-hawks","tag-il","tag-immanuel-quickley","tag-israel","tag-josh-hart","tag-knicks","tag-mike-brown","tag-miles-mcbride","tag-og-anunoby","tag-robinson","tag-sixers-head-coach","tag-sports","tag-toronto-raptors"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/432747","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=432747"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/432747\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/432748"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=432747"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=432747"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=432747"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}