NEW YORK — OG Anunoby’s return from a right hamstring strain appears to be near. The Knicks starting forward was a full participant in practice Friday at the team’s Tarrytown training facility, with head coach Mike Brown calling the defensive anchor’s progress “encouraging” ahead of the Eastern Conference finals. “He practiced today in full, yeah,” Brown said. Anunoby injured his hamstring ...

Og Anunoby #8 of the New York Knicks recovers a block during the first quarter of a game against the Atlanta Hawks in Game Six of the First Round of the NBA Eastern Conference Playoffs at State Farm Arena on April 30, 2026, in Atlanta, Georgia.

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NEW YORK — OG Anunoby’s return from a right hamstring strain appears to be near.

The Knicks starting forward was a full participant in practice Friday at the team’s Tarrytown training facility, with head coach Mike Brown calling the defensive anchor’s progress “encouraging” ahead of the Eastern Conference finals.

“He practiced today in full, yeah,” Brown said.

Anunoby injured his hamstring with five minutes remaining in the Knicks’ Game 2 victory over the Philadelphia 76ers. The injury occurred on the leg opposite of the hamstring costing him the lion’s share of the 2024 Eastern Conference finals, plus nine games earlier this season in November.

The Knicks completed the 4-0 series sweep without their starting forward, and Friday marked his first full practice since suffering the injury on May 6.

“Anytime anybody’s able to do anything [return to practice from an injury] like that, it’s always encouraging,” Brown said, noting Anunoby participated in scrimmages during practice. “Everything we did today, he did.”

Before the injury, Anunoby was playing some of the best basketball of his career, averaging 21.5 points on 62% shooting from the field and 54% shooting from 3 through his first eight playoff games.

As of Friday afternoon, the Knicks were still awaiting the winner of the Detroit Pistons-Cleveland Cavaliers second-round series. If Cleveland closed out Detroit in six games, the Knicks would host Game 1 of the conference finals Sunday at Madison Square Garden. If the Pistons forced and won a Game 7, the series would begin Tuesday in Detroit.

For Brown, however, the timeline remains secondary to Anunoby’s health.

“At the end of the day, imma wait and let the medical group tell me each day what he can do,” Brown said. “We’ll see if they tell me something different tomorrow. But it’s definitely encouraging to see somebody [who was] out [to] be able to go out there and practice, full practice, like OG did.”

Anunoby averaged 16.7 points, 5.2 rebounds and 1.6 steals while shooting 48% from the field and 39% from 3 during his first full regular season under Brown. He is also expected to be in contention for his second career NBA All-Defensive Team selection.

Ignore the noise

Brown coached the Knicks to 53 wins in his first year on the job. Most coaches in his position would be celebrating, if not making rounds for a Coach of the Year campaign. Not Brown. He’s been tasked with elevating the Knicks beyond the ceiling they believed former head coach Tom Thibodeau imposed on the franchise. That means NBA Finals or bust, even if 53 wins and a completely reimagined Knicks offense are huge victories for Brown’s resume.

“I don’t look at it like that. I literally do this to try to compete to try to win a championship. That’s what my focus is throughout the course of the year,” said Brown, who has maintained he doesn’t pay attention to any outside noise. “Throughout the course of the year, there’s going to be noise out there. When [ex-San Antonio Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich] was at his height, people talked about him. When [Golden State Warriors head coach] Steve Kerr was at his height, people talked about him.

“People can talk about Mike Brown for sure, but it’s my job to ignore the noise. It’s easy to do that because the pressure that I put on myself and the team puts on itself to be great or try to be the best team in the league, doesn’t even match up to what everyone else says.”

Watching hoops

Karl-Anthony Towns said scouting the Knicks’ next opponent has become a family affair.

Towns, like virtually every member of an organization awaiting the victor of the other conference semifinals matchup, will watch Game 6 between the Cavs and Pistons, but only Towns planned in advance to watch it with his loved ones.

“My fiancee [Jordyn Woods], she loves watching basketball a lot. It’s always something, even when I’m not thinking about it, maybe I’m thinking of talking to my family, my niece, my nephew, [Jordyn] has the game on,” Towns said. “She’s constantly updating me on what’s happening. She knows ball now, after all these years together. She’s talking about flex screens, UCLA cuts and stuff like that.”

Towns is also watching the Minnesota Timberwolves — the team responsible for dealing him to the Knicks as part of the Julius Randle-Donte DiVincenzo trade. As of Friday afternoon, the Wolves trailed the San Antonio Spurs, 3-2, with the Spurs having a chance to close out on the road.

“I definitely am tuned in. I watch the games, especially on the days that we’re not playing, and the Wolves are playing,” Towns said. “I’m always tapped in, I’m watching, I’m texting Ant [Edwards], I’m texting Rudy [Gobert], I’m texting those guys and just watching them play.”