BOSTON — The next time Mitchell Robinson steps onto a basketball court, his biggest fan will patrol the opposing bench.
Robinson might have spoken a dominant playoff series into existence, but he wasn’t the only person who saw this coming. Joe Mazzulla did, too. After all, the Boston Celtics coach tried to halt Robinson’s relentless rebounding and persistent defense before it could even begin.
Now, it won’t stop.
Robinson has battered Boston during the New York Knicks’ second-round playoff series against the defending champs, which they now lead 3-1. The Knicks didn’t carry themselves with this sort of grit during the regular season. Maybe no coincidence, Robinson wasn’t there for most of those days, recovering from an ankle injury that limited him to 17 games played.
Robinson’s recent history is littered with setbacks. He underwent surgery on his ankle two years ago but returned in spring 2024, only to hurt the same ankle again during a first-round playoff series against the Philadelphia 76ers. Another surgery was on the way — though this time, the Knicks expected him back for the start of this season … until they didn’t.
Leading into training camp, New York realized Robinson wouldn’t be ready until winter at the earliest. The news was jarring enough for the team to reshape its core, trading for Karl-Anthony Towns, if only because it needed a center to replace the player who was supposed to lock down the paint.
Another setback for Robinson.
Now, after a return at the end of February with a couple of shaky months to follow, he is springing forward.
The gangly 7-footer won’t take over late-game scoring like Jalen Brunson or Mikal Bridges. He doesn’t drain jumpers or muscle in post-ups like Towns. Because of his unfortunate injury history, he can’t fire himself out of cannons for 48 minutes, à la Josh Hart or OG Anunoby. He is still developing chemistry with his new teammates.
On Monday, when asked about his growing dynamic alongside fellow big man Towns, whom he hasn’t played with much, he cut off the question.
“I mean, I’ve barely played with anyone,” he said.
And yet, in an alternate universe, one in which Robinson doesn’t regain his pre-surgery form or another in which missed free throws transform him into Chuck Knoblauch, the Knicks aren’t one win away from the Eastern Conference finals.
mitch for the SLAM😤 pic.twitter.com/Yr7g2AEEBO
— NEW YORK KNICKS (@nyknicks) May 13, 2025
Robinson has dominated the Celtics. And Mazzulla saw this coming.
Don’t go by the coach’s words. Judge him only by his actions.
The Celtics have intentionally fouled the shot-challenged Robinson since the beginning of the series. The result hasn’t been pretty. Robinson is just 7 of 23 from the line against the Celtics. He has air-balled more free throws in the series than Towns has missed. After his second freebie that never even touched the rim, a bullet with the exit velocity of an Aaron Judge liner and the launch angle of a sacrifice bunt, he collapsed to the floor in frustration, squatting on the court with his hands above his head.
All the misses mean the Celtics have kept at it, but they are not the only reason Boston continues to foul the Knicks’ backup center.
At one point during Game 2 — which the Knicks won 91-90, a victory they could not have pulled off without Robinson’s defensive prowess not just guarding the paint but also switching onto All-Star wings Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown — Mazzulla ordered the Celtics to foul Robinson before they were even in the bonus. Boston hacked Robinson intentionally three times until Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau subbed him out of the game.
Robinson never even went to the free-throw line, but the move sent him to the bench for an extra 42 seconds, which Mazzulla didn’t regret, even if it meant Boston operated in the bonus for the rest of the fourth quarter.
“He’s a huge factor to what they do,” Mazzulla said. “And I’m going to find ways to negate that.”
There is much to negate.
When Robinson steps onto the court, often subbing in for Towns six-ish minutes into the first quarter, the Knicks win. They have outscored the Celtics by 35 points when he’s in the game during this series. No other rotation regular, other than Miles “Deuce” McBride, who benefits from playing mostly alongside Robinson, is out of the negatives. New York is 38 points per 100 possessions better when Robinson is on the floor during these four games.
In those moments, the rebounding hits another level.
Robinson feasts on offensive boards. Even when he doesn’t grab a miss, he gets a hand on it, then tips the ball upward again and again. He looks like a father playing keepaway from a group of 4-year-olds. He has called it the “tap, tap, tap.”
It’s why his rebounding numbers often feel too low.
He snagged five during the Knicks’ 121-113 Game 4 win on Monday. All of them came in the first half, keeping New York afloat during a dicey couple of quarters. But his presence seemed deserving of more than just five. And for good reason.
Because of his tap, tap, tapping, the Celtics need to send multiple players at Robinson on the glass. If it’s a one-on-one matchup down low, even if it’s against the 7-foot-2 Kristaps Porziņģis or the incessantly fundamental Al Horford, Boston is vulnerable to an offensive board or a foul.
When Robinson is around, the Celtics can’t run in transition as often. If everyone is scampering to Robinson, then those players aren’t going the opposite direction for a fast break, which helps the Knicks set up on defense. It opens other Knicks up for offensive rebounds, too.
This is why Mazzulla wanted Robinson on the bench. He isn’t just a rebounder; he’s a playmaker on the boards.
The Knicks are pulling down 38 percent of their misses when Robinson is on the court in this series. For reference, if that rate belonged to a team, it would break the record for best in a single season since 1998. When Robinson is on the bench, the Knicks recover 26 percent of their misses, in line with the Miami Heat’s 2024-25 offensive rebound rate, which finished 27th in the NBA.
“He was working his tail off to get back,” Brunson said. “Obviously, we love what he does, but him having his joy and being back and being around and contributing, that’s what we were most happy to see.”
Forget about a return to glory. After the injuries, then re-injuries, the setbacks and rehabs, a return to grit was no guarantee. But Robinson showed flashes during the regular season and then during the first-round ousting of the Detroit Pistons, enough for Mazzulla to hack him from the start.
The Game 2 fiasco, when Boston intentionally fouled Robinson to put itself in the bonus, wasn’t just a bold move because the Celtics manufactured extra fouls without forcing any free throws. By discouraging the Knicks from playing Robinson, they encouraged the team to substitute in Anunoby, who was New York’s best player in Game 1.
Mazzulla knew this, and he did it anyway.
Robinson sat at his locker after that game, insisting that the intentional fouls were not a slight regarding his errant free throws. Instead, the move was flattering, he asserted.
“It means I’m a threat,” he said.
Mazzulla agreed. Robinson has proved him right. And now, a rebound fiend and defensive anchor who was out of the picture not long ago is getting fingers on every missed shot and leaving fingerprints on each Knicks win.
(Photo of Mitchell Robinson and Luke Kornet: Elsa / Getty Images)
