OG Anunoby starts again in Knicks’ win: ‘didn’t even know I was questionable’
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SACRAMENTO, Calif. — OG Anunoby didn’t miss the game, after all.
According to him, he never even considered it.
“I didn’t even know I was questionable,” he said.
After being listed as 50-50 because of “injury management,” the defensive-minded forward started Saturday night’s 98-91 win over the Kings, two days after he felt discomfort in his surgically-repaired elbow.
He struggled offensively — missing 7 of 8 shot attempts — but added to his impressive record with New York.
The Knicks are now 15-2 with him in the lineup.
“OG’s a basketball player,” Tom Thibodeau said. “He does a bit of everything.”
Before the game, Thibodeau suggested Anunoby was under a minutes restriction — or, in the coach’s words, “guidelines.” Anunoby then logged 33 minutes, his lowest since joining the team.
“Each game, as he goes through this just coming back in, there’s gonna be soreness involved and just see where it is,” Thibodeau said. “He went through shootaround (Saturday morning), so that was good. So it’s just day by day.”
“There’s going to be somedays where there’s soreness involved,” the coach added.
Still, the Knicks hadn’t listed Anunoby with “injury management” until after Thursday’s victory over the Blazers, when he grimaced in pain and held his elbow after swiping for a steal.
“Just sore,” Anunoby said Saturday.
Newcomers Bojan Bogdanovic and Alec Burks probably had their best games since joining the Knicks, combining for 21 points — including 11 in the fourth quarter — while holding down the offense as Brunson rested.
It was important to providing Brunson fresh legs down the stretch.
“We were just buying time. The group that was in there (with Bogdanovic and Burks) was going pretty good, so thought give (Brunson) an extra minute here, minute-and-a-half,” Thibodeau said. “I knew they’d be loaded up on him pretty good so I wanted to make sure that he had the energy to finish.”
Josh Hart became a Peloton instructor for a session last week, riding for a 20-minute studio session the night before dropping 20 points with 19 rebounds and 10 assists in a win against the Sixers.
“I had a good game so maybe now I’ll have to Peloton before home games,” Hart said.
His appearance was part of Peloton’s partnership with the NBA. Mikal Bridges, Seth Curry and Karl-Anthony Towns were also announced as guest instructors, but Towns recently underwent knee surgery so it’s unclear how that’s going to work.
Isaiah Hartenstein said he stopped stretching out his Achilles in the locker room during games because the media assumed he was injured.
“Y’all kept saying I was hurt so I make sure y’all can see me now,” he said.
Hartenstein now instead warms it up by the basket stanchion. He’s been under a minutes restriction and, heading into Saturday, hadn’t played more than 24 since Feb. 26.
“The good thing is I feel good,” Hartenstein said, “so I feel they’re doing a great job of building it up.”
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