Knicks Bulletin: “We know it’s going to be a battle.“

The Knicks spent Wednesday at home after their loss to the Hawks on Tuesday but they returned to the Tarrytown practice facilities on Thursday in advance of their matchup against the Orlando Magic on Friday.

It was quite an event considering what emanated from the venue, as head coach Tom Thibodeau provided sauce updates about the injury status of all four injured starters, including very very promising updates for the return of two of them in the next few days.

Here is what Thibs and some players said on Thursday speaking to media members after practice.

Tom Thibodeau

On OG Anunoby’s rehab and his return to the court...

“OG’s taking contact, he’s scrimmaging, and that sort of thing. I’m not a doctor. So when they clear him, they clear him, but he’s doing well, very well. He’s day-to-day, we’ll see where he is. He’s making good progress. But he’s got to be cleared first to fully play.”

On Julius Randle’s rehab...

“[Randle] is working on the court, he’s doing stuff in the weight room, stuff like that... He’s taken some light contact [with pads] but nothing with a player yet. So that’ll be the next step. Just the next step now that they’re doing more on the court.”

“I think once he’s cleared—and usually what happens when a player goes through whatever injury they have—every player has to get back to where they trust their body again. That usually doesn’t happen until there’s a play in the game where you go, ‘Hey, I’m OK.’”

“He’ll (need to) be at a comfort level when he does come back. He’s handled the injuries that he’s had in the past well. So he’s doing all the work that he needs to do, and he’s making good progress, and just work your way through it.”

On Mitchel Robinson...

“He’s making good steady progress. But he hasn’t had contact or anything like that. It just the normal progression that he’s making.”

“He can now run and jump. Shooting and that sort of stuff. You can script a little bit with him. And that’s where we are with that.”

Josh Hart

On OG Anunoby’s status following Thursday’s practice...

“He looked good, he looked like himself. Shot the ball well today, those kinds of things.”

“When you take that step, it’s always you kinda hold your breath the next day to see how they react to kind of really upping the workload. So hopefully tomorrow, there’s not that much soreness or anything like that, and can keep progressing. Hopefully, we get (him) back soon.”

On Jalen Brunson’s availability going forward...

“He looked regular, looked good. Practice is a lot of starting and stopping so it’s kind of hard to judge sometimes. But [he] looked good, looked confident, and not like he was limping or dragging his leg or nervous to make movements, so that’s obviously a positive.”

“With [Brunson], hopefully tomorrow [he’ll wake] up ready for shootaround—not much soreness—and hopefully ready to go.”

On the Knicks' outlook for the remainder of the season and the playoffs when they should have everyone back...

“I’ll just be excited to have our team back. I don’t think we’ve had our whole team—I mean, technically if you add Mitch in there, we haven’t had our whole team one game this season in terms of what we have now or what we’ll end the season with.”

“So, just excited to get those guys back, hopefully with time to really gel and get accustomed to each other’s games and everything so we can finish the season off right and go into the playoffs feeling good.”

On Friday’s game against Orlando and the impact of the result in the standings...

“Extremely, extremely important. Obviously, Orlando—I think they’ve won five games in a row, 8–2 in their last 10—is playing really good basketball. So we know that’s obviously a challenge, and [with] us coming in kind of riddled by injuries a little bit... we know that coming in and we know they’re a half-game ahead of us in the standings. We know all those things.”

”It also means we [have] to give them our best shot. And we know on the other side, on the flip side, they’re going to give us their best shot and they’re right there. So we know it’s going to be a battle.”

Bojan Bogdanovic

On the importance of the next three games against the Magic (once) and the Sixers (twice)...

“After the All-Star break, the last 10–15 games, I think all teams and all players are looking at the standings and trying to sneak into the playoff or play-in or get that homecourt advantage that we are fighting for right now.”

”We lost three games to Orlando this season. We’ve got Philly coming right after. These three games are really important because we have [almost] the same record.”

“Having guys back healthier and having that sense of urgency to earn home-court advantage in the playoffs is gonna be big for us.”