As the Knicks contemplate whether to keep Mitchell Robinson on a long-term contract, his influence on the offensive glass continues to grow.
The free agent-pending center recorded 10 offensive rebounds and 12 boards overall in Friday’s 110-107 win over Wizards at the Garden. Robinson is second only to Grizzlies big man Stephen Adams in offensive rebounding per game this season, averaging 4.02 in 64 games.
“Huge … these games of effort, they inspire your team,” Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau said after Friday’s game. “Our rebounds were off the charts, that’s a big part of the win. You have to keep improving… keep fighting, scratching. Everything we have to do, we have to do right now.”
The Knicks (30-40) swept the Wizards to 11th in the Eastern Conference with their second straight win, but they started playing Saturday five games behind Charlotte and Atlanta for the last two spots in the playoffs. -in with 12 games left. Thibodeau’s team will face the Hawks at home on Tuesday and will visit the Hornets the night after the Jazz on Sunday night at the Garden.
Thanks to Julius Randle’s 10.0 rebounds per game, the Knicks are third in the league in team rebounding (46.6) this season. Robinson’s 8.7 rebounds per game represents a career high in four seasons in the NBA.
Mitchell Robinson battles Drew Eubanks for rebounding during the Knicks’ victory over the Trail Blazers. NBAE via Getty Images
“I think we were pretty good for most of the year,” Thibodeau said. “There are all these different metrics that people use to measure things. My eyes also tell me a lot. I know if the guy is good at guarding the ball. I know if the command has spaces. I know if the team is keeping the ball off the paint. I know if the team is challenging. I know if the team is recovering.”
Wizards coach Wes Unseld Jr. knows this too, and he has criticized his big men, including former Knicks All-Star Kristaps Porzingis, for not stopping Robinson from dominating offense. This dominance led the Knicks to 20 second chance points.
“That’s what he does, that’s how he affects the game, and we let him do that,” Unseld said. “Ten offensive rebounds is absolutely unforgivable. Twenty second chance points, you can’t win that many games.”
“Huge, dude. Huge. He did it for us all year,” added Randle, who had 18 points and 17 rebounds (16 defensively) against the Wizards. “So I guess we expect it, but it’s not normal for a guy to do it all the time every night. But the fact that he brings this energy and effort, attacks the attacking glass and thus finds the attack, and also protects the ring, as he does, is very important to us.
Rookie center Jericho Sims also grabbed four offensive rebounds in 15 minutes off the bench, leading the Knicks to 19 points overall.
“The pressure they put on the ring is too, if you don’t respond to that, you’re giving up on the dunk,” Thibodeau said of Robinson and Sims. “If you react then RJ [Barrett] can get to the rim, and Julius can get to the rim.”
The 7-footer Robinson also scored 15 points on a 6-of-10 game-winning shot, leaving his field goal percentage for the season at .766. That would eclipse the league record of .742 he set in 2019/20, but Robinson is currently ineligible for the title. A player now needs a minimum of 300 field goals to qualify for the league lead, so Robinson will need to convert 68 shots in the team’s last 12 games (5.6 per game) to count.