{"id":629511,"date":"2026-05-07T19:53:12","date_gmt":"2026-05-07T19:53:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/629511\/"},"modified":"2026-05-07T19:53:12","modified_gmt":"2026-05-07T19:53:12","slug":"og-anunoby-injury-knicks-forward-diagnosed-with-hamstring-strain-considered-questionable-for-game-3-day-to-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/629511\/","title":{"rendered":"OG Anunoby injury: Knicks forward diagnosed with hamstring strain, considered questionable for Game 3, day-to-day"},"content":{"rendered":"

NEW YORK \u2014 Knicks<\/a> forward OG Anunoby<\/a> was diagnosed with a hamstring strain after injuring his right leg late in the fourth quarter of the team\u2019s 108-102 Game 2 win over the Philadelphia 76ers<\/a>. He is reportedly questionable for Game 3<\/a> and considered day-to-day.<\/p>\n

Anunoby appeared to pull up and reach for the back of his right leg as he cut to the basket with just over three minutes to go in the fourth quarter. Right after the cut, Anunoby received a pass from Josh Hart<\/a> and elevated for a two-handed dunk, only to be blocked at the rim by Paul George<\/a>:<\/p>\n

After Mikal Bridges bailed out the possession with a midrange jumper to give the Knicks a 105-99 lead, Anunoby was clearly hobbling as he headed back down the court on defense and appeared to be calling to the Knicks bench to check out of the game. After Tyrese Maxey<\/a> committed his sixth turnover of the game, losing the ball on a Josh Hart steal, Knicks head coach Mike Brown called timeout and sent Miles \u201cDeuce\u201d McBride in for Anunoby.<\/p>\n

McBride would play the final two minutes and 31 seconds of the contest. Anunoby would head back to the New York locker room and would not return.<\/p>\n

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Brown told reporters he did not have an update on Anunoby\u2019s status immediately after the game.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou know, I haven\u2019t talked to anybody,\u201d Brown said. \u201cThey didn\u2019t say anything. He looked like he was hopping.\u201d<\/p>\n

Brown looked off the podium, where a Knicks public-relations official informed him there was no update.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have not talked to medical yet,\u201d Brown said.<\/p>\n

Later, Brown fielded a follow-up question as to what transpired on the bench after Anunoby asked out \u2014 what, if anything, the training staff told him about the availability of a player you\u2019d presume the head coach would want on the floor down the stretch of a two-possession playoff game.<\/p>\n

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\u201cYeah, I haven\u2019t \u2014 like I said, they haven\u2019t told me,\u201d Brown said. \u201cI just know that he left the game, so I was like, \u2018Deuce!\u2019 And I turned and looked, and [Anunoby] wasn\u2019t back. Nobody said he was back. So I have not talked to anybody yet, but he wasn\u2019t \u2014 did he even come back on the bench? No.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asked if he knew if Anunoby would be undergoing any sort of testing, Brown replied, \u201cI don\u2019t know anything.\u201d<\/p>\n

The late exit brought a premature end to a night that saw Anunoby score 24 points on 9-for-17 shooting, with 5 rebounds, 4 steals, 2 assists, 1 block and no turnovers. In a six-point win, the Knicks outscored the Sixers by 12 points in his 37 minutes of work, continuing what\u2019s been a stellar start to the 2026 NBA playoffs for the nine-year veteran \u2014 one that has showcased the depth and breadth of his contributions and skill-set on both ends of the floor.<\/p>\n

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\u201cAs we continue to move along, you really get a better sense or better feel of his feel for the game,\u201d Brown said before Game 2. \u201cHe\u2019s more than a willing passer. At his size, he causes matchup problems because you can\u2019t always switch a smaller guy on him, because he\u2019s pretty big and strong and athletic around the basket, especially if the spacing is right. He can play pick-and-roll. He can come off a pindown and make plays.\u201d<\/p>\n

That increased offensive menu stands out to 76ers head coach Nick Nurse, who coached Anunoby for the first six years of his career in Toronto<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s kind of always been great at D, and then the shooting came,\u201d Nurse said before Game 2. \u201cAnd now he\u2019s kind of \u2014 he\u2019ll rebound heavily when they need him. He\u2019ll cut. His cutting game has gotten a lot better. I think his starting and ending drives have gotten better, as well. He just kind of keeps getting better, year after year, and he\u2019s just a hard-working guy.\u201d<\/p>\n

That work has paid major dividends in the Knicks\u2019 start to the 2026 playoffs. Entering Wednesday, Anunoby was averaging 21 points, 7.9 rebounds, 1.6 steals, 1.1 assists and 1.1 blocks in 34.9 minutes per game in the postseason, shooting a scorching 63.8% from the field, 59.4% from 3-point land on 4.6 attempts per game, and 78.8% from the foul line on 4.8 trips a night. He was integral in the Knicks\u2019 dominant close to the first round against the Atlanta Hawks<\/a>, and ruthlessly efficient in their blowout Game 1 over the 76ers.<\/p>\n

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New York has outscored opponents by 118 points in Anunoby\u2019s 282 minutes in these playoffs \u2014 tied with teammate Jalen Brunson<\/a> for the highest plus-minus of any player in the 2026 postseason<\/a>. The last player to average more than 20 points per game with a true shooting percentage (which factors in 2-point, 3-point and free-throw accuracy) of at least 60% over multiple postseason rounds, while also posting block and steal rates as high as Anunoby\u2019s have been? Hakeem Olajuwon, all the way back in 1996<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The prospect of entering the next stage of their playoff journey without such a two-way difference-maker wasn\u2019t one his fellow Knicks were eager to consider on Wednesday night.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll regroup tomorrow, see what the whole situation is,\u201d Towns said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll cross that bridge when we get to it,\u201d Brunson said. \u201cI don\u2019t know too much.\u201d<\/p>\n

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In Game 2, with backup center Mitchell Robinson<\/a> sidelined by an illness, and both Karl-Anthony Towns<\/a> and third-string big Ariel Hukporti<\/a> plagued by foul trouble, Brown tapped Anunoby to serve as a small-ball center \u2014 a role in which he served admirably, keying some strong stretches that helped New York stay connected late in the second and third quarters.<\/p>\n

Those stretches \u2014 including one sequence in which Anunoby got a deflection that led to a Knicks steal, grabbed two offensive rebounds off teammates\u2019 misses and drilled a third-chance catch-and-shoot 3 off a feed by Brunson \u2014 showcased just how special and versatile a player the Knicks have in Anunoby and just how significant a loss he\u2019d be if he were to miss any time.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt that size and athleticism and IQ, feel, two-way player \u2014 you want a guy like OG on your team,\u201d Brown said before Game 2. \u201c… He\u2019s \u2014 like a few other guys on our team \u2014 the ultimate definition of sacrifice, where you just go and do your job as best you can to try to help the team win.\u201d<\/p>\n

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SNY\u2019s Ian Begley reports<\/a> that there is \u201coptimism in the locker room\u201d that Anunoby will be able to play in either Game 3 or 4 in Philadelphia<\/a> this weekend. If Anunoby\u2019s limited or unavailable as the series shifts back to Xfinity Mobile Arena for Friday\u2019s Game 3, though, the Knicks know they\u2019ll need all hands on deck to pick up the considerable slack.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s one of the best two-way players in the league, so it\u2019s tough to replace that,\u201d McBride told reporters in the Knicks locker room after the game. \u201cBut you don\u2019t replace him with one guy. Everyone is going to have to step up.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NEW YORK \u2014 Knicks forward OG Anunoby was diagnosed with a hamstring strain after injuring his right leg…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":629306,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[56254,6417,36783,61628,36782,25169,36784,6043,25161,19560,60519,2085,2113,99,12378,7639],"class_list":["post-629511","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-ariel-hukporti","tag-atlanta-hawks","tag-jalen-brunson","tag-josh-hart","tag-karl-anthony-towns","tag-knicks","tag-mikal-bridges","tag-mike-brown","tag-mitchell-robinson","tag-og-anunoby","tag-paul-george","tag-philadelphia","tag-philadelphia-76ers","tag-sports","tag-toronto","tag-tyrese-maxey"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/629511","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=629511"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/629511\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/629306"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=629511"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=629511"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=629511"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}