Tuesday could be the night the Knicks front line starts to heal again.
OG Anunoby went from off to questionable for the revenge for Sunday’s ugly defeat against the 76ers — and he could make his first appearance since Jan. 27 due to an elbow injury that required cleanup surgery.
The valuable two-way wing has been sparring with the Knicks for several days, and Tom Thibodeau described Anunoby as “very close” to returning to the lineup.
“I think it’s normal protocol. He must have encountered landmarks along the way. And the last one is to go back to the doctor to make sure he approves it as well,” Thibodeau said after Monday’s practice in Tarrytown.
“Our doctors, the doctors, him. It’s a combination of everyone. He’s really close. We have to let it play out.
“But I feel good seeing the way he’s progressing, everything he’s been allowed to do. He’s been making contact. He’s been keeping up with training. His conditioning is good. We’re hopeful.”
The Knicks had gone 12-2 with Anunoby in the lineup after he arrived in late December in a trade with the Raptors, but he and Julius Randle (dislocated shoulder) missed the final 18 games.
Thibodeau’s undermanned team won its first three games without them, but the Knicks (37-27) have lost 10 of 15 since Feb. 3, including the league’s lowest offensive output this season and 21 turnovers committed in Sunday’s 79-73 loss to the Sixers.
“I don’t think we can play as well as we did [Sunday]so in the next one, we have the same opponent [Tuesday], so just move on,” Josh Hart said. “We know where we made mistakes, and we just have to come out and be aggressive.”
Despite the recent 5-10 streak, the Knicks have somehow clung to fourth place in the tight Mid-East Conference. They’re a half-game ahead of the Magic, a full game ahead of No. 6 Philadelphia and 1 ¹/₂ ahead of the seventh-seeded Pacers for the play-in cutoff.
“You are certainly careful [to the standings]“, Jalen Brunson said. “It’s not weird, because there are so many great players, so many great teams and so many great coaches in this league. This prepares you to be ready every night. … You just have to be ready to go.
“In the game you can’t worry about where you are or if this happens or if this team loses and we win. When we’re in the game, we focus on the game.”
The All-Star point guard had called his performance “dogs-t” after shooting 1 of 9 from 3-point range against the Sixers, and Hart, who committed six turnovers, offered a similar assessment.
“I’m still stuck [Sunday’s loss]. That one just didn’t sit right with me,” Hart added Monday. “But overall, when guys were going down, guys had to step up, and I feel like we kind of kept it afloat.
“I feel like there are certain games we should have won, i.e. [Sunday] that we kind of let slip. … But I feel like we did as good a job as we could with injuries. I feel like we probably could have done a better job of letting a few games slip away, but at the end of the day, we’re really excited to hopefully get these guys back soon.
With Randle and Robinson still not allowed to fully return to contact, Anunoby figures to be the first to return, perhaps as early as Tuesday evening.
“I think at one point we were 2-8 or 3-7 in the last 10 games or whatever. So to wrestle like that, and still be top four in the conference, I think it says a lot about the character of the guys that we have here and the culture that we have here,” Hart said. “So it’s something we’re proud of.”
“Obviously we can’t get stuck on this and we can’t hope that we’ll fall into place when everyone comes back. It’s going to be a few little growing pains, but I think you’ll be fine.
