Despite a 50-point night from Joel Embiid, the story of the New York Knicks’ loss in Game 3 will be the controversial foul that threatens to sideline Mitchell Robinson for extended time.
In the second quarter of the April 25 matchup, Embiid fell on Robinson’s ankle after hitting a jumper.
Joel Embiid injures Mitchell Robinson uninentionally in a game he should have already been ejected in when he…intentionally tried to injure Mitchell Robinson
The play was graded a Flagrant 1, not a Flagrant 2, which would have warranted ejection.
Knicks guard Donte DiVincenzo didn’t hold back when asked about the play postgame.
“It was dirty,” DiVincenzo told Stefon Bondy of the New York Post. “It was dirty.”
Robinson hobbled his way through the remainder of the first half, before being ruled out for the second half.
He finished Game 3 with 2 points and 7 rebounds in 11 minutes played, and a +7 plus-minus, the team’s best mark.
New York called the injury a left ankle sprain, in the same ankle that sidelined him for 50 games during the regular season.
So the series will go to at least Game 5 for the New York Knicks. How far they’ll have to go without Mitchell Robinson is to be determined.
The early reports aren’t optimistic.
Initial Outlook for Robinson
Head coach Tom Thibodeau had five words for an update on the Knicks big man postgame.
“Haven’t talked to medical yet,” Thibodeau told Kris Pursiainen of WFUV Sports.
Ian Begley‘s postgame report for SNY wasn’t any more upbeat.
“Knicks aren’t sure if they’re going to have Mitchell Robinson,” Begley reported in a postgame video on April 25. “He reinjured his ankle. He probably hurt it to a degree, on that Joel Embiid play…That’s the same ankle that he was listed as questionable for coming into this game. It’s the same ankle he had surgically repaired this season. So, probably a significant amount of around Robinson’s ankle going into Game 4.”
Mitchell Robinson could do his best Willis Reed impression, helping New York to a first-round series win. But it’s more likely he misses time, and the Knicks are left with a question of how to stop Embiid.
Fellow starers Isaiah Hartenstein and Josh Hart weighed in on the controversy and the challenge at hand.
Hart, Hartenstein Talk Robinson Injury
When talking with Bondy and reporters postgame, Hart didn’t take as direct a shot at Embiid as DiVincenzo. But he did acknowledge the recklessness of the play.
“We’re just happy Mitch didn’t get a serious injury on that” Hart told Bondy. “I’m all for tough fouls, tough, playoff fouls, but that’s something that can put a guy out for a significant amount of time. So we’re lucky he didn’t get seriously hurt during that time.”
When asked about guarding Embiid moving forward, Hartenstein told Bondy the solution lies behind the charity stripe.
“The biggest thing is the free throws. That gets him in rhythm,” Hartenstein said. “Just playing more team defense. He made six 3s. Most of them were contested. So sometimes you got to live with that. But just playing more team defense and being more physical and not let him get to the foul line where he can catch rhythm.”
Philadelphia’s reigning MVP was rewarded with 21 free throw attempts in Game 3. He hit 19 of them. New York as a team took 19 trips to the foul line, and hit on 13.
Mitchell Robinson or not, the Knicks will look to turn the tides over on the 76ers in Game 4 at the Wells Fargo Center.
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Knicks’ Donte DiVincenzo Takes 3-Word Shot at Joel Embiid for Controversial Foul