The opponent went back to Hack-A-Mitch.
With Mitchell Robinson still shooting abysmally from the charity stripe, the Suns purposefully fouled the Knicks’ center in the fourth quarter and it nearly backfired in Phoenix’s 116-113 victory Sunday.
Robinson was hacked right after he grabbed a rebound and about to throw a pass to start a transition attempt, which prompted a long conference from the referees and a decision to award the Knicks a “Take Foul.”
So Jalen Brunson was allowed to attempt the foul shot — which he missed — and Robinson was promptly subbed out to prevent the Hack-A-Mitch strategy from continuing.
Robinson missed three of his four foul shots Sunday and is now shooting a putrid 35.3 percent on free throws for the season.
It’s by far the worst rate of his career.
“It’s something I got to keep working at,” Robinson said. “Just got to keep working at it.”
The Heat employed a Hack-A-Mitch strategy in the playoffs last season, and the free-throw problem is cutting into Robinson’s playing time in fourth quarters.
Robinson claimed he was improving his free throws by applying more arc. But it’s not working.
“Just step up there with confidence,” Robinson added Sunday. “That’s pretty much all there is to it.”
The Knicks were slaughtered on the glass by the Suns, who grabbed 18 offensive rebounds — including 14 in the first half.
It’s a rarity for the Knicks, who entered the night statistically as one of the league’s top rebounders.
“They just played harder,” Josh Hart said. “They rebounded the ball, obviously defensive rebounds. But they had 18-20 offensive rebounds today. They were quicker to the ball. That’s something that we can’t have. That’s something that’s easily fixable. But we’ve got to give them credit. They worked and they out-hustled us.”