Mitchell Robinson asked, and his Knicks teammates listened.
It’s noticeable that they want to find him more often in recent games as he rolls to the basket after setting a screen. It mainly resulted in alley-oops.
“When we’re watching film, I tell them, ‘Look here, I’m wide open. Throw it to me. I’m doing a little dirty work, so reward me,'” Robinson said after the Knicks’ 112-109 win over the 76ers Saturday in Philadelphia. “That’s kind of what that’s like.”
In Year 8, Robinson has yet to develop a polished offensive game. This allows his defender to aggressively help him when he sets a screen – often for Jalen Brunson.
But if he can be a threat as a roller, it changes that dynamic.
“Whoever is guarding Mitch is aggressive,” coach Mike Brown said. “So as teams continue to step up and try to be aggressive on ball screens, Mitch has to get out quick and look for it at the rim.”
After a hiatus for a few games, Robinson is back to his best on defense and the offensive glass. He neutralized Joel Embiid — especially in the third quarter, when he held him scoreless — Saturday and grabbed six offensive rebounds.
“Our defensive player was Mitch,” Brown said. “Mitch was phenomenal on the offensive glass, but defensively he was really, really good for us. Four deflections. A couple 50-50 balls. Rebounding the ball really well. A couple blocks. Big, big night from Mitch, especially on the defensive end of the floor.”
After losing nine of eleven games, the Knicks have won two in a row for the first time since late December.
Josh Hart doesn’t put too much stock in it.
“It’s good, but it’s also January,” Hart said. “You can’t get too high or too low. I think that’s the most important thing. I think you guys can write whatever you all want to write there. Three games ago we turned into a lottery team, and now you guys say, ‘Oh, they’re fighting the East.’ So that’s up to all of you to do. We try to stay level-headed and not get too high or too low.”
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