ATLANTA — The unsung hero was again serenaded by praise from Tom Thibodeau.
Mitchell Robinson, consistently declared by his coach as overlooked and underappreciated by outsiders, filled the boxscore with the intangible stuff in the Knicks’ 126-120 victory over the Hawks on Friday night.
Robinson’s 38 minutes produced 13 rebounds, four steals and four blocks, which didn’t go unnoticed in the postgame interviews.
“I think to his teammates, the people in our organization, there’s a great appreciation because oftentimes, there’s not really a stat for that, and it’s so vital to the team,” Thibodeau said. “That’s what make everything go. So the rim protection, and then offensively the screening, and then rolling to the rim, force the defense to collapse. That’s unselfishness. And when you do that, you’re making a commitment to the team. So I know his teammates appreciate him, and certainly the coaches and our entire organization, front office. He has great value.”
Perhaps most impressive is the one personal foul in 38 minutes.
There was a time early in his career when Robinson couldn’t go 15 minutes without fouling out.
“If you went back four years ago to where he was in terms of net rating and all that to where he is today, I mean it’s a huge leap,” Thibodeau said. “And sometimes people tend to forget the incremental steps that people make to improve, and that’s what he’s done: he’s become an elite offensive rebounder, now he’s an elite defensive rebounder. He’s an elite shot blocker, but he does all the intangibles that help you win, and so you can’t say enough about him. It’s all the dirty work.”
A day after Donte DiVincenzo became the first Eastern Conference fined for flopping under the NBA’s renewed focus, Thibodeau said he disagreed with the NBA’s ruling.
DiVincenzo was punished for his play against Boston’s Jaylen Brown in Wednesday’s loss.
“I thought his body position when you look at the play, in my view, he wasn’t flopping,” the coach said.
Josh Hart said he didn’t expect the league to remain this vigilant as the season progressed.
It should be noted that the NBA already had a rule to fine floppers but it was rarely enforced.
The new wrinkle is an in-game flopping technical, which was whistled against Jalen Brunson in the Boston opener.
The NBA’s referees, through their Twitter account, acknowledged the call was a mistake and Brunson’s fall was legitimate.
“Whenever there’s a new rule, you’re always going to see a lot of them at the beginning of the year. And the league kind of sends a message early and then kind of gets back to feeling it out,” Hart said. “It’s a feelout process.Like I said, it’s new, new for us, new for the officials. Just as we’ve got to get used to it the refs got to get used to it. So we’ll see how it is.”Asked for his thoughts on the new flopping emphasis, Brunson added, “I just think everybody needs to be on the same page. That’s all.”
The referee’s admission of a mistake did not equate to satisfaction for Brunson.
“No. It is what it is,” he said.