Knicks' Mike Brown has Mitchell Robinson come off bench, looks like a genius in rout of Hornets
Knicks guard Jalen Brunson looks to shoot against Hornets guard LaMelo Ball during the second half of an Emirates NBA Cup basketball game in Charlotte, N.C., on Wednesday. Credit: AP/Nell Redmond
CHARLOTTE — For the first time this season, the Knicks had Mitchell Robinson available, but Mike Brown opted to go a different way with his starting five, leaving Robinson on the bench and putting Karl-Anthony Towns at center with Josh Hart and Deuce McBride joining regulars in the lineup.
And it would be hard to argue that this wasn’t the move the Knicks needed to make.
The group combined to become the first team in franchise history since at least 1996-97 when halftime stats were tracked to all score in double-figures in the first half, and more importantly, pushed the Knicks to a 25-point halftime lead on the way to an easy 129-101 win over the Charlotte Hornets at the Spectrum Center.
The victory finished off a 3-3 road trip and pushed the Knicks to 2-1 in group play of the NBA Cup and a win Friday at home against Milwaukee would give them the top seed in the group and a spot in the quarterfinals as the home team.
It was a lineup the Knicks utilized Monday in Brooklyn, but that night Robinson was not active, sitting out with an illness. This time, it just continued a jump start to the team that provided energy at the end of a five-game road trip.
“I actually made the decision before Brooklyn,” Brown said. “I just wanted to change it up, switch it up a little bit. Mitch was sick. So went out there and that’s what we started. So stayed with it, will continue to stay with it to see what direction it goes. Everything is fluid in this business. Anything can happen at any time.”
It was Hart who provided an early boost, scoring 19 of his 22 points in the first half — one more than he’d had in any full game this season — and finished with eight rebounds and seven assists. By the end it was Jalen Brunson who led all scorers with 33 points. Towns finished the night with 19 points and 10 rebounds while McBride had 19 points and Mikal Bridges added 18.
While Towns was in his comfort zone, adding Hart has made everything easier for the other starters.
“And for Mike,” Brown joked. “He makes things easier for everybody. And I said this: we got a new coach, new system. And you look back, especially our first three losses on the road, I think two of those losses Josh was sitting next to me in the fourth.
“And I’ll be the first to say that wasn’t the right thing to do because he does so many great things for us and our group and our coaching staff. And obviously as time has gone on, we’ve gotten a better feel for how we’re going to play him and he’s got a better feel, too.”
“I try to do whatever this team needs,” Hart said. “Obviously starting in this league is something that’s big, something that you always want to do. I’ve been a starter for three years I think, the last three years, on and off. Part of the time I haven’t with some injuries. That’s something I’m comfortable with.”
Robinson had sat out six of the first 15 games and Towns numbers weren’t great in those prior to the Brooklyn game when he scored a season-high 37 on 14-for-20 shooting, but it does put him in a more comfortable spot. This time, it wasn’t until 6:15 remained in the third quarter with the Knicks up by 21 that Brown put Robinson on the floor at the same time as Towns.
And maybe that could have simplified things from the very start. There really didn’t need to be any huge change in the games of Towns or Brunson, Hart or Anunoby. What the Knicks, Towns and Brown have realized is that 11 years of doing this an elite level has provided Towns with the knowledge of how to succeed.
“My experience teaches me a lot,” Towns said. “Just keep shooting and keep trusting the work. Opportunity for me tell young guys, you know, obviously shot hasn’t been falling. But I continue to show up to work, be the first one there, last one to leave, and just continue to believe in the work.
“I know it’s disappointing, especially for me, who puts so much time in the gym, and you’re not seeing the results every day the way you want, you would like, at the standard you anticipate.
“But you know, never, never change the grind. Never change what you do every day that’s made you the player you are today.”
Notes & quotes: Landry Shamet sustained a sprain to his right shoulder Saturday in Orlando and he has begun rehabilitation and an update is expected in approximately four weeks. For now, it appears he can avoid surgery and, as he did last year, rehabilitate the shoulder injury. ”Anytime you can avoid surgery, at least from my novice experience, I think it’s great,” Brown said. “But I don’t know much about it still. I know he has a right shoulder sprain and he’s going to go through the process, whatever that means.” Shamet has been a key rotation piece and was even starting in Anunoby’s absence, but is on a non-guaranteed contract. It will force the Knicks to make a decision on Shamet before the Jan. 5 deadline. ”That’s something that Leon [Rose] and his group will discuss,” Brown said. “But Landry is a really big part of what we’re doing and I’ll give up my salary for him.”
Steve Popper covers the Knicks for Newsday. He has spent nearly three decades covering the Knicks and the NBA, along with just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.
