The Knicks are listing forward OG Anunoby as out for Game 3 of their first-round series vs. the Pacers on Friday due to a left hamstring strain, per the NBA’s latest injury report. Anunoby sustained the injury during New York’s Game 2 win on Wednesday.
Anunoby is the latest addition to a growing list of injured Knicks frontcourt players. The team was already missing Julius Randle entering the postseason due to season-ending shoulder surgery. Since the playoffs began, Bojan Bogdanovic has gone down with foot and wrist injuries, while Mitchell Robinson was diagnosed with a stress injury in his left ankle. Both Bogdanovic and Robinson are expected to miss the rest of the postseason.
Anunoby missed several weeks during the second half of the season due to an elbow issue, but he had been playing heavy minutes since his return. He averaged 41.6 MPG in the first round vs. Philadelphia and logged 42 minutes in Game 1 vs. Indiana before exiting Game 2 early.
The Knicks have leaned heavily on their starters since the postseason began, but playing without Anunoby may force head coach Tom Thibodeau to promote one or more of his little-used reserves into the rotation.
Even if Jalen Brunson, who is listed as questionable for Game 3 due to right foot soreness, is fine to suit up, Brunson, Josh Hart, Donte DiVincenzo, Isaiah Hartenstein, Miles McBride, and Precious Achiuwa are the only available Knicks who have seen any real action in the playoffs.
Alec Burks, who got off the bench for 44 seconds at the end of the first half in Game 1, looks like the top candidate to potentially enter the rotation. Shake Milton, Jericho Sims, DaQuan Jeffries, and Mamadi Diakite make up the rest of New York’s 15-man roster.
The Knicks have yet to make any official announcement on Anunoby’s injury, but depending on the severity of the strain, it’s the sort of ailment that could certainly sideline him for more than just one game.
Thibs giveth, Thibs taketh away.
Regardless, unfortunate for a Knicks team already beset by so many injuries.
Hamstring in 28 minutes played is on Thibs? Shut the silly stuff up already.
You can never get in a game all season and pull a hammy in practice
28 minutes after 39, 47, 50, 45 and 42 in the previous 5 games? Yep, it could be very well on Thibs. You know, there’s a reason why almost no one in the league plays those minutes.
You can also be well-rested and crash your car. But if you are dead tired, your odds are higher.
Unfortunate but expected…
Thibs’ teams are always worn out by the playoffs…
I wouldn’t rule out a 6-man rotation. With Hart and DiVincenzo playing 48 minutes, the other 4 can rest for 12 big minutes each. I’m sure Thibodeau sees it feasible.
Please come back …
Another thread populated by 2k nation on their favorite topic. I’ve come to expect their posts to evidence a complete ignorance of basketball, but I am a little surprised it extends so thoroughly to matters of medicine and human physiology.
Anyway, get well OG.
Hopefully OG comes back soon. With or Without OG winning Game 3 was going to be near impossible. Knicks in 6!!!
There have been literal studies that concluded that a person is more likely to sustain an injury when they are fatigued. But I hope your day gets better because I hope this isn’t how you behave when things are going well for you….
Indeed several studies support fatigue being a risk factor for strain injuries. The reason is that a fatigued muscle absorbs less energy, so it needs to elongate more to achieve the same thing. A good summary of relevant literature can be found here link to sciencedirect.com.
Well you should read those “literal” studies (maybe from the site @Otogar references). If you do, and are able, you’ll learn what fatigue means in the context of them. In short, fatigue (physical fatigue anyway) doesn’t just arise in the moment from having played in sporting events days and weeks prior to the moment (assuming the players slept each night in between). In any event, it would ONLY a slight increase in suceptibility. Nowhere near a causation level. Almost all the risk of any injury in a sporting event comes from the mere act of playing in the event. So, attributing a professional basketball player’s injury in the 3rd Qtr of a game to fatigue is nothing short of silly.
Since you brought it up, things are actually going fine for me. I post here, but rarely respond to any other posts, unless I know the poster, or I’m responding to a post that’s responding to mine.
Pacers need all the help they can get playing 5 vs 8…
whats the difference? the refs will find a way to help knicks W with or without OG. officiating has been awful all series, 1 sided garbage trash disgusting
I love this Knicks Squad and hats off to Leon Rose,World Wide Wes and Thibs has done fabulous coaching job and certain players have developed nicely under Thibs. But this tight rotation and 40 plus minutes a night is turning this once deep team into a Mash Unit. This stubborn coach brings in Alex Burkes with 20 second to go before half time and you never see him again. Do I think Burkes would help probably not but to run these guys into the ground is a recipe for disaster. Josh Hart and others playing 48 minutes in a non overtime is insane and ridiculous. We all love OG Anuaby for the seamless fit with the starters but to play him 40 something minutes a night we are luck he didn’t blow out his knees or Achilles with Thibs riding these starters like Donkeys and mules traveling from New York to California. But on another note this Jalen Brunson is a superstar and franchise changing player who with his Villanova sidekicks will get us a championship in the next few years. Jalen Brunson keeps proving people wrong who says he is too small and not a 1A player. Poppa Brunson did a fabulous job raising abd training his son who soon will be in the conversation for top 5 or ten players in the NBA. This guy scoring abilities insane and he makes opponents look silly trying to defend him. Every night is like another day in the office for Jalen Big Bucket Brunson who is widely underpaid now when ever body said we overpaid when we signed him in free agency. Mark Cuban is punching the air for not giving this Point God the 50 something millions he was asking for at the time. Smh. Poppa Brunson and Jalen took the next ✈ smoking to NY and us beloved NY Knicks fans can’t stop smiling everything he drops another 40
OG just being his injured self at this point of the season.
That being said, Thibs just never learns – he runs his players to the ground, has little trust in his bench.
Shake Milton gets buckets. Give him playing time Thibs.
Jericho Sims has got to enter the rotation. Dude is raw, but has great leaping skills and can protect the rim.
Burks as a stopgap for a while to get the starting backcourt some rest, can contribute.
I don’t know much about Jeffries ability to play in the playoffs, nor Charlie Brown (I don’t know if he’s eligible for the playoffs, as a two-way contract). Diakite can at least bring energy and fight in the boards. At the g league level, he played very well. He was a two way player of the Bucks, so at least a tiny bit of playoff experience has. I think that it was in the championship season