How Knicks' Mitchell Robinson managed his long, strange journey this season
Boston Celtics guard Jaylen Brown is defended by Knicks center Mitchell Robinson in the second quarter during Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals at Madison Square Garden on Monday. Credit: Newsday/J. Conrad Williams Jr.
BOSTON — Throughout the season — and into the postseason — the Knicks have steadily maintained that they would be better now than they were at the start, a natural growth of a team put together as training camp began.
While acclimating Mikal Bridges and Karl-Anthony Towns and getting a full season of OG Anunoby was part of an understandable growth process, it was nothing compared to what Mitchell Robinson has endured to reach the point where the Knicks were Wednesday, pushing for one more win to reach the Eastern Conference finals for the first time as a franchise in 25 years.
While others are finding their way in New York, Robinson is completing his seventh season with the Knicks. The longest-tenured member of the organization joined in a season in which the Knicks won 17 games and were led in scoring by Tim Hardaway Jr. Seventeen of his teammates from that first season are no longer even in the NBA.
So if the others think there has been progress from Day 1 to now, consider Robinson’s Day 1 in 2018.
“I’ve been through ups and downs, especially with this team,” Robinson said Wednesday morning. “From a losing record to a winning record over the years. It’s great to be here.
“It feels good to be in this position that we are in right now, especially because I’ve been here seven years. To get to see that and experience that is great.”
Asked if he cared about being the longest-tenured Knick, Robinson paused and said, “No.”
Believe him. After all, he just went on social media earlier in this series with a profane declaration of what he cares about — his truck, basketball and his daughter — and wasn’t about to grow wistful over the path he took to from backing up Enes Kanter (even before he became Enes Freedom) to pairing with Towns to provide a dangerous tandem in the post.
His rant about caring — or more to the point, not caring — came as a result of the strategy of Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla to hack him repeatedly to try to use his free-throw shooting struggles to force him off the court. It’s understandable why the Celtics have focused on him. His plus-8.8 per game was the highest on the Knicks' roster in the first four games of the series, and actually the highest of any player on either team.
Robinson went 4-for-4 from the foul line in the first quarter of Game 5.
If Bridges or Towns spent the year trying to find their place in the offense, for Robinson it’s still a process. He has already played more alongside Towns in the playoffs than he did in the regular season and asked about that he said, “I barely played with anyone.”
There is a relief for Robinson just to be out here, taking the floor at TD Garden, after all that he has been through. Sidelined most of last season he returned and was injured again in the first round of the playoffs against the 76ers. This season, he was cautiously managed by the Knicks' medical and training staff, sitting out the first 58 games and playing in just 17 regular-season games. That has allowed him to work on his conditioning, and he has played in every playoff game this time and done so with his usual boundless energy.
“He brings a lot to this team,” Jalen Brunson said after Monday’s Game 4 win at Madison Square Garden. “When he came back, obviously we wanted him back fully healthy and ready to play, but seeing how he was just being back, being healthy, being full off the court, it was great to see him. He was working his tail off to get back. Obviously we love what he does, but him having his joy and being back and being around and contributing, that’s what we were most happy to see.”
That comment was reposted on Instagram by Robinson Wednesday, adding an emoji smiling and shedding a tear, which is about as much as you’ll get out of him. But he admitted the rehabilitation was difficult, and he could understand what Boston’s Jayson Tatum was about to endure, working his way back from the ruptured Achilles tendon suffered Monday night.
“When I was rehabbing, I was just trying to get back on the court,” Robinson said. “But here we are. That [rehab process] was long as hell. There’s a lot of emotions that go up and down. So really, the hard part is trying to stay focused because you can’t really do stuff when you’re injured and stuff like that. So it just — it sucks.
“First off, I want to [send] prayers out to JT for that injury. I’ve been through a lot myself. I know how that feels. It’s not a great feeling to be in. I mean, just got to keep going.”
He followed that show of compassion for Tatum by turning to the Knicks' media relations staff and asking, “Can I go?”
He wasn’t freed quite yet but almost away from the microphone and back to the things he does care about.
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.
