Knicks' Mitchell Robinson needs to rebuild game by stopping bricks from free-throw line
Detroit Pistons center Jalen Duren (0) defends as New York Knicks center Mitchell Robinson (23) grabs rebound in the 2nd quarter as the New York Knicks play the Detroit Pistons in Game 2 of the 1st round of the Eastern Conference playoffs on April 21, 2025 Credit: Newsday/J. Conrad Williams Jr.
BOSTON — How many players in the world can do what Mitchell Robinson does?
How many players can be a dominant presence on the offensive boards, block shot after shot and then come out and guard Jayson Tatum on the perimeter, keeping him from making a potential game-winning three-pointer with seconds left in regulation?
Robinson, who was wearing a microphone during the Knicks' overtime win over the Celtics in Game 1 of their Eastern Conference semifinals, didn’t mince words after getting in Tatum’s face at the end of regulation.
“There’s only one 7-footer that can guard him and that’s me,” Robinson could be heard saying to Knicks assistant coach Mark Bryant as he headed back to the bench.
There is no doubt that Robinson has a very rare skill set, which is why you can almost detect a collective wince from Knicks fans every time he walks to a free-throw line. Because while no mere mortal can even dream of impacting a game like Robinson does, a good chunk of fans can successfully make a free throw.
Robinson doesn’t just miss free throws; the ball often falls short of the rim. In Game 1 against the Celtics, he was 3-for-12 from the line. All told in the playoffs entering Wednesday night’s Game 2 victory over the Celtics, Robinson was 7-for-25 in the postseason (he was 0-for-1 Wednesday night).
Watching Robinson toss up brick after brick at the line is like watching Superman stop a speeding bullet but then forget how to eat with a knife and fork.
Mitch mic’d up:
— New York Basketball (@NBA_NewYork) May 7, 2025
“Come on we been here before”
“Oh Lord”
“OG, right here”
“There’s only one 7-footer that can guard him and that’s me”
“Give me one stop”
“Oh yeah KAT we on that. Oh yeah Kale. Oh yeah. Oh yeah! yeah Kale! Yeah Kale!“
“Let’s GOOOOOOO”pic.twitter.com/jPsEENexPs
Robinson has the ability to impact a game so much that the Celtics, like the Pistons before them in the first round, have been employing a hack-a-Mitch approach which puts Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau in a bit of a quandary. In a close game, do the Knicks want to have their best defender on the bench? Or do they want to risk coming up empty on a possession?
Thibodeau wants to be able to use Robinson when he needs defense or big man Karl-Anthony Towns gets into foul trouble like he did in Game 1. The Knicks were ahead, 31-30, in the second quarter when Towns was whistled for his third foul. Robinson entered the game and then Boston outscored the Knicks, 18-8, over the next four minutes as the Celtics repeatedly fouled Robinson — he was 1-for-4 during the stretch — before Thibodeau subbed in Precious Achiuwa.
Thibodeau says whether to deploy Robinson comes down to looking at exactly what is going on in the game.
“He has great impact when he’s on the floor,” Thibodeau said. The fouls (on Robinson) can get us into the bonus earlier, so we can take advantage of it that way. It also allows us to set our defense so there is some advantages to that as well. When you look at points per possession, that’s what you are looking at. You have to make decisions based on what’s going on in the game, how well is he shooting them and things of that nature and then are you going to sub?”
Josh Hart says Robinson knows how important he is to the team and it’s up to the team to deal with the hack-a-Mitch situations.
“If they’re going to do that, let them do that. We’ll get stops,” Hart said before the Knicks closed out the Pistons. “He’s so important to us defensively. Even if he makes one out of two, if we get five stops in a row and they foul him five times in a row and he makes five free throws, then we’re a plus-5. We got faith in him on both sides of the court.”
Robinson has never been a good free-throw shooter with a career regular-season average of 52.2%. That’s even worse than Shaquille O’Neal’s 52.7, but better than Ben Wallace, who shot 41.4 over 16 seasons.
Robinson, who missed the majority of the season recovering from offseason ankle surgery, made a career-high 68.4% of his free throws in the 17 games he played this season. So the fact he entered Wednesday night’s game shooting 28% in the postseason is a bit jarring.
“It’s my own fault,” Robinson said before Game 2. “I gotta get back to what I know. When I came back, I was knocking ‘em down, then started to get away from it. Just gotta lock in.”
Lock in and summon his inner backyard or driveway player, and knock them down like all fans believe they can.
Barbara Barker is an award-winning columnist and features writer in the sports department at Newsday. She has covered sports in New York for more than 20 years.
