After managing Mitchell Robinson’s workload all season so that he’d be as healthy and possible in the playoffs, the New York Knicks are…not really using him during the playoffs—a decision spearheaded by Mike Brown that, frankly, makes no sense and may result in a first-round exit.
Big Mitch is averaging under 15 minutes through three postseason contests, and played fewer than 12 during New York’s Game 3 meltdown against the Atlanta Hawks. Brown’s reasoning for why predominantly rests on two factors: matchup complications, and the playoff data on fivesomes that feature both Robinson and Karl-Anthony Towns.
With the caveat that Brown has forgotten more about basketball in the last 10 seconds than yours truly will ever know, none of this makes any sense. At all.
Mike Brown’s logic for shrinking Mitchell Robinson’s role is flawed
Let’s start with the matchup complications, which are the most fair of Mikey B’s concerns. As he explained to the media, running dual-big lineups means having Robinson on Onyeka Okongwu; moving Jalen Brunson onto Dyson Daniels; shifting Josh Hart onto CJ McCollum; and then putting Towns on Jalen Johnson.
The latter adjustment appears to be keeping Brown up at night. “And that probably is not a good matchup at the end of the day,” he said.
Except, are we sure about that? Towns has always been most effective in more aggressive defensive roles. It isn’t a matter of being activated by who’s opposite him, though that could be part of the equation. It’s more about allowing him to focus on a singular agenda rather than having to serve as the last line of defense for everyone, and/or having to constantly operate off his back feet.
Regardless, the Knicks aren’t winning the Brunson-on-McCollum matchup as things stand. Moving him away from their newest villain in favor of Hart gives them more of a defensive pulse, and with Robinson on the floor, they needn’t worry as much about surrendering offensive rebounds to Dyson Daniels. If you give a little more ground to Jalen Johnson with Towns on the floor, it’s not the end of the world.
As for the data, the Knicks posted a net rating of 5.5 with both KAT and Robinson on the floor during the regular season. They are minus-36.4 in the playoffs, but that comes across a four-minute sample, and is tantamount to being outscored by four total points.
What’s more, their two microstretches together have all come with Hart on the floor. KAT and Robinson were at their most effective during the regular season without him, posting 13.9 net rating, not to mention an offensive rebounding rate of 45.2.
Mike Brown is flat-out wrong, and the Knicks might pay the price
Dominating the offensive glass was critical to the Knicks’ regular-season success. That aspect of the possession battle gets harder in the playoffs, but not to the extent it can be ignored.
Though New York is posting an identical offensive rebounding rate, winnowing down Robinson’s minutes still means they’re leaving opportunities on the table. That matters when considering how uneven the offense looks overall, right down to how much Brunson is struggling.
Robinson can give them even more of a lift. It comes at the cost of spacing, but that’s not as much of an issue if Hart’s off the floor, and he adds a genuine lob threat.
Worrying about Maul-a-Mitch isn’t reason enough to keep chugging along this path, either. Dare the Hawks to get into foul trouble. See how long they stick with it.
Failing to push the envelope is akin to cowardice. The Knicks aren’t good enough to play scared, and guarantee a series victory. The entire point of Robinson’s maintenance program was to ensure he’d be available now. Deviating from that script has contributed to New York falling into a 2-1 hole. Brown needs to stop acting like this departure from the norm is part of the solution—before it’s too late.
Add us as a preferred source on Google