Mitchell Robinson achieved another statistical anomaly.
After collecting a ridiculous nine offensive rebounds in just 16 minutes of the previous game, the starting center finished plus-40 in just 17 minutes in Sunday’s 134-98 windfall over the Nets.
Even Robinson was impressed.
‘You said plus-40 [17] minutes?” said Robinson. “Damn.”
Robinson’s stat line also included two blocks, two steals, eight rebounds (three offensive) and eight points on 4-of-4 shooting.
He has been a one-man wrecking crew the last two games.
“Just going out there and doing what I have to do. Going out there and playing hard,” Robinson said. “It feels great. I didn’t even know that. I’m embracing it and getting better.”
Robinson was also honored by the coaching staff as the Knicks Defenseman of the Game.
He helped hold the Nets to 40 percent shooting.
“I don’t really like plus-minus stuff, but it’s another great statistic,” coach Mike Brown said. “He continues to put up incredible stats. I think he played 16.5 minutes, and he was plus-40. To impact the game like that – again, I don’t really believe in it – but to see those numbers in the short time he played was just amazing.”
Nearly three weeks into the regular season, Brown still hasn’t made many game introductions.
And that’s by design.
“Not a ton. We still like to play from concepts, read and react,” the coach said. “I think our guys are a little more comfortable with that.”
In the preseason, Brown said he wanted to lay the foundation of his style — pace, ball movement, instinctive offense — before introducing a playbook.
A combination of time, injuries and preference have kept Brown from making that move.
“It’s mostly by design because I think at the end of the day it would be great if they could just play without play calling because then it’s harder on the defense,” Brown said.
Opening Night starter Ariel Hukporti remains out of the rotation and Brown said he wasn’t sure if he would return.
“I don’t know. I can probably play against 10 guys, and right now he’s not in the top 10, so he’s got to keep himself ready,” Brown said, “and when his number is called, he’s just got to go out there and play his minutes hard on both ends of the floor.”
Hukporti, a second-year center from Germany, started twice this season in place of Robinson, who was dealing with an injury.
However, Hukporti struggled and has only collected garbage time since then.
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