New York Knicks: 3 Things to watch for on opening night

New York Knicks: The centers

As we know, Nerlens Noel is doubtful for this game with a knee injury.

That leaves the New York Knicks with Mitchell Robinson, Taj Gibson, and rookie Jericho Sims.

If Mitchell Robinson had a full preseason where he gradually ramped up his playing time and conditioning, you would expect him to play real starter minutes.

Robinson didn’t play until the team’s final preseason game last week.

There are reports that Robinson may still start this game. Although he wasn’t practicing at full capacity at the start of preseason, the approach by the team did seem precautionary. We’ve seen plenty of videos of Mitchell Robinson getting shots up this summer.

You still can never count out Tom Thibodeau leaning on Taj Gibson. We’ve seen Gibson get significant minutes in the past whenever the team has had an injury to the frontcourt. 

Is there any chance we see more Obi Toppin and Julius Randle lineups?

I doubt it. I know fans were excited about how well that lineup played at the end of the last preseason game, but I do believe that had more to do with the current situation of that the game — it was Mitchell Robinson’s first game back, Nerlens Noel was out, and Taj Gibson had fouled out.

I would expect Mitchell Robinson to start this game but also see a healthy dose of Taj Gibson.