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Tim Bontemps, ESPN
NEW YORK — Both the Philadelphia 76ers and New York Knicks received reinforcements to their beleaguered rosters Tuesday night, as All-Star Tyrese Maxey and defensive ace OG Anunoby returned for Philadelphia and New York, respectively, for their game at Madison Square Garden.
Maxey had missed the prior four games due to entering the league’s concussion protocols after hitting his head in a win over the Dallas Mavericks on March 3, while Anunoby has been out since Jan. 27 after undergoing a procedure to remove loose bodies from his right (shooting) elbow.
“A long wing, versatile, defense, shooting,” Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau said, when asked what Anunoby will bring to New York’s lineup. “Just all-around play.
“One of his strengths is he can fit with anybody. He can play off people, he can shoot, he’s good off dribble handoffs, he’s good moving without the ball, cutting, slashing, he’s very good in transition. He can play with your starters, he can play with your bench, he can play the 3, he can play the 4, you can put him at the 2. He guards everybody, guards 1 through 5.
“He’s very unique.”
He’s also very important to a Knicks team that has been playing without its entire starting frontcourt for the past several weeks, as both Anunoby and Randle have been out since that Jan. 27 win over the Miami Heat while Robinson has been out since December after undergoing ankle surgery.
Thibodeau also had updates on the statuses of both Randle, who injured his shoulder, and Robinson ahead of Tuesday’s game, each of which was different in tone. For Randle, there is no change in his status, with Thibodeau saying he remains in “controlled” contact situations. There’s currently no timetable he was willing to share about when that would change to 5-on-5 practice.
“Just hasn’t had the contact yet,” Thibodeau said. “The conditioning is good, he’s shooting, doing individual work, that’s all good. He can do 5-0, that sort of thing. Light contact with the pads. That contact is what you would term controlled. You know what the move is, so you can brace yourself for it.
“There’s a progression to what you have to go through.”
The news on Robinson, however, seemed much more encouraging, with Thibodeau saying Robinson “should” be progressing to contact practice sometime soon.
“He’s on the court,” Robinson said. “He can run, jump, no contact yet. But that should be coming soon so he’s making really good, steady progress.”
Maxey, meanwhile, is back for Philadelphia after missing four games while in the concussion protocols. Sixers coach Nick Nurse said that there were no restrictions on Maxey’s minutes but that he’d be careful monitoring the young star in his first game back from the injury.
“It’s good to have him back, obviously,” Nurse said. “I think he should be OK, he should be fresh and all that stuff. We just got to see where he’s at as far as conditioning and rhythm and all that stuff, but he should be OK.
“I’m probably not going to go crazy. I’m going to monitor a bit early, and some of that stuff, but nothing [official].”
Philadelphia, meanwhile, remains without the league’s reigning Most Valuable Player, Joel Embiid, with Nurse saying that while Embiid has progressed to on-court work, there remains no timetable for his return or to progress beyond that.
Embiid has been out since Golden State Warriors forward Jonathan Kuminga inadvertently fell on his leg on Jan. 31, and the 76ers entered Tuesday’s action 10-20 this season with Embiid in street clothes, compared to 26-8 when he plays.