{"id":67772,"date":"2024-03-12T19:47:33","date_gmt":"2024-03-12T23:47:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=67772"},"modified":"2024-04-06T22:35:17","modified_gmt":"2024-04-07T02:35:17","slug":"knicks-get-og-anunoby-back-ahead-sixers-matchup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/03\/12\/knicks-get-og-anunoby-back-ahead-sixers-matchup\/","title":{"rendered":"Knicks Get Major Rotation Piece Back Ahead of Sixers Game"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>New York Knicks wing <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/a\/anunoog01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">OG Anunoby<\/a> will return to the court tonight against the Philadelphia 76ers after missing the last 18 games with an elbow injury.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">SQUAD \ud83d\udcaa <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/clkaqkUcFd\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/clkaqkUcFd<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 NEW YORK KNICKS (@nyknicks) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/nyknicks\/status\/1767687033072353645?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">March 12, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>On Monday, it was reported that Anunoby could return next week but that he <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/03\/12\/knicks-could-see-starting-forward-return-on-tuesday-og-anunoby\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">may be back as early<\/a> as Tuesday&#8217;s matchup.<\/p>\n<h2>Knicks Get OG Anunoby Back Ahead of Sixers Matchup<\/h2>\n<p>After going 12-2 immediately after trading for Anunoby, the Knicks have gone just 8-10 since the 3-and-D star went out of the lineup.<\/p>\n<p>Of course, this is partially due to All-Star forward <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/r\/randlju01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Julius Randle<\/a> last suiting up on Jan. 27 due to a dislocated shoulder. To that point, where Anunoby opted to have surgery to <a href=\"https:\/\/theathletic.com\/5261729\/2024\/02\/08\/og-anunoby-knick-surgery-elbow\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">remove a loose bone fragment<\/a> from his elbow on Feb. 8, Randle has been waffling on whether or not he should undergo shoulder surgery.<\/p>\n<p>However, New York has seen their <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/03\/03\/knicks-season-at-risk-of-spiraling\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">play at both ends impacted<\/a>, failing to stop teams from knocking down shots on the perimeter of make 3s themselves. That&#8217;s where Anunoby comes in. A highly-touted perimeter defender, the six-year pro is averaging 1.3 steals per game. Since joining the Knicks, Anunoby is averaging 1.8 steals per game, which would be the second-highest mark of his career.<\/p>\n<p>He also shoots 37.9 percent from 3 this season, with a career 3-point percentage of 37.6. Since joining the Knicks, his numbers have gone up here as well. In 14 games, Anunoby is shooting 39.1 percent from 3, which would be a career-high. In that time, he shot 40.4 percent on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nba.com\/stats\/player\/1628384\/shots-dash?Month=4\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">catch-and-shoot 3<\/a>s, highlighting his fit as an off-ball weapon beside a pair of crafty on-ball scorers in Randle and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/b\/brunsja01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jalen Brunson<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h3>A Test Run<\/h3>\n<p>In some ways, Anunoby is getting a test run against the Knicks.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s not a meaningless exhibition, particularly with both teams jostling for playoff position. Separated by just 1.0 game in the Eastern Conference standings, the Knicks are currently the fourth seed at 37-27. The Sixers, 36-28, are sixth in the East. Nonetheless, New York needs pay special attention to how the 26-year-old feels after the game.<\/p>\n<p>In missing a month and a half\u2019s worth of games, Anunoby\u2019s legs will be a bit fresher than they otherwise would have been.<\/p>\n<p>This could play to the Knicks\u2019 advantage. Not only should his energy level be higher than many of his opponents, but Swiss Army Knife <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/h\/hartjo01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Josh Hart<\/a> has been logging heavy minutes in Anunoby\u2019s absence. After playing 39.9 minutes per game in February, he averaged 43.5 minutes per game in March.<\/p>\n<p>Hart has the conditioning and endurance necessary to play as long as necessary. However, giving him time to rest benefits him physically and mentally.<\/p>\n<p>To that point, Anunoby is also playing a fast-paced sport against many of the world\u2019s top athletes. A sport in which there\u2019s constant movement for 48 minutes. Subsequently, due to amount of the time he\u2019s been out, Anunoby\u2019s conditioning may be at a suboptimal level. That said, if Anunoby\u2019s first game back is a bit too physically draining, it won\u2019t be surprising to see him sitting out for rest in New York\u2019s next game.<\/p>\n<p>How the Knicks resolve issues related to his is less unclear than ambiguous though.<\/p>\n<p>If his elbow is sore, they may let him rest, focusing on having him completely healthy for the playoffs. As a precaution, they could also ask him to undergo medical examinations. Depending on the results, Anunoby could opt for cortisol shots. The last option, a normalized practice in the NBA, would bring him temporary relief. However, it won\u2019t fix any underlying problems.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>New York Knicks wing OG Anunoby will return to the court tonight against the Philadelphia 76ers after missing the last 18 games with an elbow injury. SQUAD \ud83d\udcaa pic.twitter.com\/clkaqkUcFd \u2014 NEW YORK KNICKS (@nyknicks) March 12, 2024 On Monday, it was reported that Anunoby could return next week but that he may be back as [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5008,"featured_media":67784,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[62,1608,12,3],"tags":[4745,1082],"class_list":["post-67772","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nba","category-basketball","category-knicks","category-news","tag-nba-injuries","tag-og-anunoby"],"modified_by":"Quenton S Albertie","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67772","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5008"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=67772"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67772\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/67784"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=67772"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=67772"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=67772"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}