OG Anunoby is no longer day-to-day with his right hamstring strain. Thanks to the New York Knicks’ Game 3 victory over the Philadelphia 76ers, he’s now “We’ll revisit the matter leading into the Eastern Conference Finals.”
Because the Knicks are totally headed there for the second straight year.
This is not an inadvertent or deliberate attempt at jinxing the situation. New York has Philly in a 3-0 hole. Really, it’s more like a coffin.
No NBA team has ever come back to win a best-of-seven series in which it trailed 3-0. Despite completing the 3-1 upset over the Boston Celtics in Round 1, the Sixers aren’t about to make history. Not this version of them, with a hobbled Joel Embiid, and zero answers for the Knicks’ depth and defense.
This is a big deal for a multitude of reasons, not the least of which is that New York has the chance to ensure it won’t enter the ECF at a rest deficit even if the Detroit Pistons continue smacking around the Cleveland Cavaliers. Somewhat quietly, though, the Knicks have also protected themselves against an OG Anunoby disaster.
OG Anunoby can take his time rejoining the Knicks
While OG’s day-to-day designation comes as a relief on the surface, it’s more like faux-solace when you dig deeper.
Hamstring injuries are fickle. Even the most innocuous strains can take one-to-two weeks to properly heal, with more severe ones tilting toward a month or longer.
Prematurely bringing a key player—and your No. 3 offensive option—back from injury isn’t in New York’s DNA. But these are the playoffs. Timelines accelerate out of necessity when title hopes are on the line.
Yet, the idea of Anunoby rejoining the rotation following the briefest possible recovery is harrowing. Not only is he mission critical to both the present and future, but he doesn’t have the cleanest history. He suffered a left hamstring strain in 2024 that effectively ended his postseason. Though it’s his right hamstring this time around, the concern still stands.
Winning Game 3, however, ensures the Knicks don’t have to think in the most urgent terms. Finishing off the Sixers in Game 4 would be ideal, but they have built themselves the ultimate cushion, and shown they can survive at both ends of the floor with who they have left. Talk of bringing back Anunoby needn’t start unless this series gets to a Game 6—and even then, they’ll still have two tries to polish off Philly without him.
There’s no understating the importance of New York going up 3-0. Knowing what awaits in the Eastern Conference Finals (likely the Pistons), not to mention potentially beyond that (the San Antonio Spurs and Oklahoma City Thunder), buying Anunoby additional rest and time isn’t just some convenient luxury. It’s essential.
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