Knicks' OG Anunoby will miss Game 3 against Pacers with hamstring injury
The Knicks’ OG Anunoby shoots during the first quarter against the Indiana Pacers in Game 2 of the NBA Eastern Conference Semifinals at Madison Square Garden on Wednesday. Credit: Newsday/J. Conrad Williams Jr.
INDIANAPOLIS — The Knicks' road through the postseason encountered another obstacle Thursday with the news that OG Anunoby will be out for Friday’s Game 3 with what the team is calling a strained left hamstring. And while it’s hard to imagine Jalen Brunson sitting out, he is listed as questionable with right foot soreness.
Anunoby was helping carry the Knicks in Game 2 on Wednesday with his best postseason performance. He had scored 28 points in 28 minutes, adding four rebounds, three assists and a blocked shot, when he drove to the basket on a fast break in the third quarter. But before he even jumped he seemed to stumble, his left hamstring giving out. He remained on the floor and then grabbed his hamstring before leaving the game and going straight to the locker room.
The Knicks, already without Mitchell Robinson, Julius Randle and Bojan Bogdanovic, now will be without Anunoby for at least this game and possibly longer, depending on the grade of the hamstring strain.
Anunoby has been a revelation for the Knicks since being acquired in the Dec. 30 trade from Toronto. The team compiled a 20-3 record in games he played in during the regular season and a 6-2 mark in the playoffs. But he also missed 33 games as he underwent surgery to remove loose bone fragments from his right elbow.
Without Anunoby the Knicks have limited options now. At times they started Precious Achiuwa, but they also had success by moving Josh Hart to the power forward spot and playing small with Miles McBride added to the starting lineup. McBride has struggled off the bench in the first two games of the series while Achiuwa played sparingly before the team lost Robinson and Anunoby. Alec Burks is the only other bench player to see action in the postseason — and that was just 44 seconds Wednesday.
The most important factor to get through this siege of injuries is the status of Brunson. Anunoby helped the Knicks survive when Brunson spent the final 15:28 of the first half Wednesday working his way through a right foot injury. Brunson picked up the torch when Anunoby went out, playing all of the second half.
Steve Popper covers the Knicks for Newsday. He has spent nearly three decades covering the Knicks and the NBA, along with just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.
