When OG Anunoby missed the closing minutes of the Knicks’ game two victory over the 76ers, New York fans couldn’t help but expect bad news. After seeing the team’s playoff run suddenly come to a halt just two season ago when the forward strained is hamstring, PTSD started to creep in. Thankfully, by the following afternoon, reports started to come out that the Knicks, and Anunoby had dodged a bullet. While he’d end up missing the rest of the series, which to be fair, only lasted 8 more quarters,
there was optimism that had the 76ers found a way to extend the series, his return was still in play.
Now with a week and a half between his initial injury and the start of game one, many are expecting him to be all set and ready to take the floor again for the opening game of the Conference Finals. Ian Begley of SNY went on the air jus two days ago and expressed his confidence in Anunoby suiting up. Sham Charania of ESPN also confirmed that the expectation is he’ll be ready.
Mike Brown did try to tamper expectations when asked about it today, saying, “I just want to take it one day at a time.”. Anunoby didn’t participate in live scrimmages at the Knicks’ practice today, but Brown did note that he went through “some parts” of practice, which from the reports, seem to include shoot around, and individual workouts.
This isn’t a guarantee that he’ll play, and as Stefan Bondy of the New York Post notes, Brown also wouldn’t say whether Anunoby is sprinting or not. But some of this could also just be some gamesmanship for a team trying to make game planning for their next opponent slightly more difficult. And even if it isn’t, the fact that so many people are hearing positive news surrounding Anunoby’s progress is a great sign for Knicks fans especially since they still have another four to six days until game one.
