Mitchell Robinson is not a Knicks liability because of his poor free throw shooting.
In fact, the backup center has proven to be one of the team’s biggest assets through two games of this conference semifinals series.
It’s long past time to stop focusing on Robinson’s shortcomings on the offensive end and pay close attention to the massive impact he has had against the Celtics so far, as the longest-tenured Knick has had a major role in New York taking an improbable 2-0 series lead. So much so that Boston head coach Joe Mazzulla deployed the Hack-a-Mitch strategy in the fourth quarter on Wednesday night not to force Robinson to the free throw line, but to get him on the bench, where he could no longer hurt the Celtics.
“He was a +19,” Mazzulla said after the game. “All their starters were in the negative.”
If you wanted any further evidence that Robinson has given Boston fits so far in this series, look no further than the opposing team’s head coach. But if you wanted to look further, just glance at the stat sheet, where Robinson has led both games in the +/- category, and it hasn’t been particularly close. As Mazzulla noted, Robinson was a remarkable +19 in game two, even with the Knicks trailing by as much as 20 at one point, and was a +13 in game one, when New York faced the same deficit.
You could make the argument that, even on a team with Jalen Brunson and Karl-Anthony Towns, and even with Mikal Bridges’ late-game heroics in both wins, that Robinson has been the Knicks’ best player on the court through two games.
Robinson’s presence at the rim helps the Knicks counteract Boston’s heavy offensive rebounding advantage, while his work on the offensive glass has been just as impactful. He grabbed three offensive boards in game two to go along with his five defensive rebounds in 22 minutes of work, while chipping in three steals to help the Knicks force empty Celtics possessions and chip into their 20-point deficit. As Tom Thibodeau pointed out after the game, he sees runs in basketball as defensive runs more than scoring runs, and Robinson is the poster boy for that initiative. His length and activity on the defensive end has caused Boston to miss 2-pointers at a staggering rate when compared to when he’s on the bench (a 14 percent difference, per Sam Quinn of CBS Sports). His defensive stand on Jayson Tatum in the final possession of game two helped force the Celtics star to the baseline, where help arrived for Robinson and ended with a Bridges steal to seal the comeback win.
Again, Robinson’s fingerprints were all over the game-defining play, a seven-foot center sticking with one of the game’s biggest stars.
The Knicks net rating with Robinson on the floor is +8.1 compared to -3.7 when he is off the court, and that’s coming from a center who can’t score. Simply put, his defense and rebounding are such a massive factor that it needs to be appreciated, even if it doesn’t always show up in the stat sheet.