NEW YORK (AP) — OG Anunoby largely struggled through most of his return from a two-game absence, with just one basket through regulation.
Then in overtime, he proved again why he is so important to the New York Knicks' championship hopes.
Anunoby scored nine of his 13 points in overtime, helping the Knicks to a 115-104 victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers on Tuesday night in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals.
After not playing for two weeks because of a strained right hamstring, Anunoby knew he wouldn't have his normal burst. But he kept trying to impact the game however he could.
"I was just going to play hard, be aggressive,” he said.
Anunoby was on the Knicks' opening possession of overtime, earning two free throws that gave the Knicks the lead for good. He later had a driving layup and ended up going 7 for 8 from the foul line while also leading the Knicks with three rebounds in the extra period.
“OG does so many things for us and obviously not playing and coming back from an injury, there’s going to be some level of getting back up to speed, which I’m sure he would tell you," said Landry Shamet, who had a huge contribution off the bench with nine points.
Anunoby was hurt late in Game 2 of the Knicks' second-round sweep of Philadelphia on May 6 and sat out the next two games. He returned to practice during New York's lengthy wait between rounds and fully participated during the final three practices leading into this series.
He wasn't near his postseason averages of 21.4 points while shooting 61.9% from the field and 53.8% from 3-point range, but the Knicks value the starting forward just as much if not more for his defense.
“OG gave us a lot of versatility defensively and allowed us to do different things on that end of the floor,” coach Mike Brown said.
Anunoby injured his other hamstring two years ago, also during Game 2 of the second round, missed the next four games and was able to play only five minutes in Game 7. He said the pain this time wasn't as bad.
But he wasn't playing with as much force as he was earlier in the postseason for much of the game. Once the Knicks got it to overtime, the Anunoby they expect was ready.
“I don’t think it was hesitancy," he said of his play until then. "Just as the game went on, I felt more and more like myself.”
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New York Knicks' Og Anunoby (8) plays defense during the second half of Game 1 in the Eastern Conference finals NBA basketball playoffs series against the Cleveland Cavaliers, Tuesday, May 19, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
New York Knicks forward Og Anunoby (8) fails to dunk during the first overtime of Game 1 in the Eastern Conference finals NBA basketball playoffs series against the Cleveland Cavaliers, Tuesday, May 19, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)
Cleveland Cavaliers' James Harden, bottom left, fouls New York Knicks' Og Anunoby during the overtime period of Game 1 in the Eastern Conference finals NBA basketball playoffs series Tuesday, May 19, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
WASHINGTON (AP) — The House is set to vote Tuesday on whether to advance an effort to impeach Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who has accused lawmakers of undermining American troops in war zones by targeting him over mere “policy disagreements."
The procedural vote will either block the impeachment resolution or set up a final vote Wednesday. With Democratic leadership backing the effort brought by GOP Rep. Thomas Massie, the outcome will likely hinge on whether Republican lawmakers break ranks after their sweeping losses in the midterm elections.
Hegseth dug in for a congressional fight in his first news conference in months on Tuesday, portraying Massie as a rogue lawmaker and arguing that he had committed none of the high crimes required in the Constitution for his removal. He framed the effort as an indictment against the nation’s service members and their successes while undermining American forces “in real time.”
“This is not patriotism,” Hegseth said. “This is sabotage.”
Massie's resolution includes eight counts of impeachment. It largely focuses on the war in Iran but also includes references to Hegseth's role in carrying out military actions in Yemen and Venezuela.
Massie, a Kentucky Republican leaving Congress in January after losing his primary to a Trump-backed opponent, says Hegseth has “knowingly executed and implemented unlawful orders."
Tuesday morning, Hegseth gave a defiant and politicized defense of his stewardship of the U.S. military in his first news conference at the Pentagon in six months. He chose to hit back at the rising bipartisan anger over battlefield strategy while offering few details about intermittent operations against Iran or fatal strikes on alleged drug-smuggling boats in Latin America.
President Donald Trump praised Hegseth’s performance at the briefing in a social media post, while Vice President JD Vance said in his own post that the impeachment effort is “a ridiculous show that stands in for actual policymaking.”
Hegseth said the impeachment resolution “tells our enemies — Iran, the cartels, every adversary watching — the United States will actually punish its own warriors and its own civilian leadership for successfully executing lawful military operations.”
Massie filed the resolution in the House on Monday, giving Republican leaders two days to bring it to a vote. Tuesday's vote is a procedural attempt to stop the impeachment push outright by sending the matter back to committee.
If the impeachment resolution advances, it would set the stage for a dramatic vote Wednesday on whether to impeach a key Trump Cabinet member following sweeping losses for Republicans in last week's midterm elections, which many at least partly blamed on the Iran conflict and its economic impact. If the resolution were to pass the House, it would ultimately be sent to the Senate, where a two-thirds vote would be needed for Hegseth's removal.
“The law requires our military to withdraw from hostilities within 60 days if Congress does not authorize the activity,” Massie wrote on social media Tuesday. The Iran war "has been underway for 256 days. Congress has not authorized it. Hegseth is breaking the law."
What constitutes “high crimes and misdemeanors” is not spelled out in the Constitution, leaving it to lawmakers to decide what are impeachable acts.
Hegseth said Massie’s concerns are not impeachable, calling them “policy disagreements, not high crimes, not misdemeanors, not treason, not bribery, not the kinds of offenses the founders intended when they wrote the impeachment clause.”
House Speaker Mike Johnson called it a “political gambit for attention” and predicted that Republicans would defeat it “one way or the other.”
House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries, who is on the cusp of becoming the nation’s first Black House speaker, said Monday that he is a “hard yes” on the resolution. He called Hegseth the “architect” of the war in Iran.
In the Senate, meanwhile, next steps were uncertain if the impeachment resolution cleared the House.
Outgoing GOP Sen. Joni Ernst of Iowa said Tuesday that she wants to ensure “that the right information is flowing from the Pentagon to the president.”
“Is he being truthful in the way the war is going?” Ernst said of Hegseth.
Hegseth cast Massie's resolution in historic terms, arguing that no defense secretary has been impeached in the nation's 250-year history “for carrying out lawful military operations.”
But more recently, a Cabinet official in President Joe Biden's administration, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, was impeached by House Republicans over his handling of the U.S.-Mexico border. But the Senate dismissed all impeachment charges, shutting down his trial before arguments even began.
Mayorkas, who did not appear to testify before the impeachment proceedings, put the border crisis squarely on Congress for failing to update immigration laws during a time of global migration. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer had said then, in April 2024, that House Republicans’ charges failed to meet “the high standard of high crimes and misdemeanors” and could set a dangerous precedent.
Republican Rep. Nick LaLota, who voted to impeach Mayorkas, said he didn't believe Hegseth had committed any impeachable offense.
“Impeachment has been watered down,” LaLota said.
Before Mayorkas, no sitting Cabinet secretary had ever been impeached. It was nearly 150 years ago that the House voted to impeach President Ulysses S. Grant’s war secretary, William Belknap, over a kickback scheme in government contracts. He resigned before the vote.
Trump has backed Hegseth in the wake of Massie's impeachment resolution, pointing to the U.S. military raid to capture then-Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro in January as well as operations against Iran that he asserts have “obliterated” its navy and air force.
“Pete Hegseth gets an “A” PLUS, PLUS, PLUS for his defense against a disgruntled, angry, defeated, former Congressman, Thomas Massie, a TOTAL LOSER!” Trump wrote Tuesday on Truth Social.
Iran, however, has been able to keep striking U.S. military bases in the Middle East and has disrupted shipping in the Strait of Hormuz during the more than 8-month-old conflict, driving up global oil prices.
Associated Press writer Steve Peoples in New York and Lisa Mascaro in Washington contributed to this report.
Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., speaks outside of the Capitol about articles of impeachment he introduced against Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Monday, Nov. 9, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Allison Robbert)
Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., speaks outside of the Capitol about articles of impeachment he introduced against Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Monday, Nov. 9, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Allison Robbert)
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth speaks during a press conference at the Pentagon in Washington, Tuesday, Nov. 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Nathan Howard)
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth speaks during a press conference at the Pentagon in Washington, Tuesday, Nov. 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Nathan Howard)
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth speaks during a press conference at the Pentagon in Washington, Tuesday, Nov. 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Nathan Howard)
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth speaks during a press conference at the Pentagon in Washington, Tuesday, Nov. 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Nathan Howard)
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth speaks during a press conference at the Pentagon in Washington, Tuesday, Nov. 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Nathan Howard)
FILE - Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth speaks at an event for Anduril Industries, Inc., at Sparrows Point Shipyard, Oct. 6, 2026, in Sparrows Point, Md. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson, File)
FILE - Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth waits to welcome Britain's Defense Secretary Wes Streeting to the Pentagon during an arrival ceremony, Thursday, Oct 15, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta, File)
