"The only thing he can do is dunk, get, rebound, and pass it back out" - Tim Hardaway thinks Mitchell Robinson is a liability for Knicks
mitchell-robinson-and-tim-hardaway
New York Knicks big man Mitchell Robinson is expected to be sidelined for at least six weeks after suffering an ankle injury in the team’s Game 1 victory over the Indiana Pacers on May 5.
Robinson has dealt with the injury bug all season long, playing in just 31 of New York’s 82 games during the regular season. But when healthy, he has proven to be an impactful player thanks to his ability to defend the paint, rebound, and block shots.
He averaged 5.6 points, 8.5 rebounds, and 1.1 blocks per contest in the regular season while shooting 57.5 percent from the floor.
Hardaway calls Robinson a liability for New York
Former Golden State Warriors and Miami Heat star point guard Tim Hardaway explained why he believes Robinson was a liability for New York against the Pacers in Game 1 before he went down with his ankle impingement.
“They started this run when Mitchell Robinson went out, right? Way back in the season. They started this run of going from five or six to, like, we could get to two without Mitchell Robinson. Seed, right. And they found out their identity then. They have an identity without Mitchell Robinson right now. And, like you said, they are only playing seven deep.”
“And Mitchell Robinson, like you said, is a liability on offense. The only thing he can do is dunk, get, rebound, and pass it back out. To me, he was a liability anyway on defense on Monday night. He really wasn’t moving the way you expected him to. He wasn’t blocking shots. His body wasn’t involved,” Hardaway said.
Looking back at Robinson’s defense on Joel Embiid
While Mitchell wasn’t playing at the top of his game in Game 1 of the Knicks’ second-round playoff series — he ended up with just two points and two rebounds — New York might not have advanced past the opening round if it weren’t for his devastating defense on one of the best players in the league in Philadelphia 76ers star Joel Embiid.
Embiid attempted 34 shots from the field with Robinson as his primary defender and made just 12 of them, which equates to a subpar 35.3 percent clip. For perspective on how difficult it is to limit Embiid to such a low field-goal percentage, he shot 55.9 percent from the floor against Isaiah Hartenstein, who guarded him for the lion’s share of the first-round series.
Hopefully, Robinson’s recovery goes smoother than expected so that he can get back out on the floor for New York as soon as possible, whether that’s later on in the 2024 NBA Playoffs or next season.