‘When I Become the Man?’: Fed Up Knicks Starter Fires Back at Critics

The New York Knicks freefall continues and the latest loss is one of the worst ones of the entire season, and that’s in a year full of bad losses.

In the game before the All-Star Break, the Knicks were matched up against the Brooklyn Nets who had just traded away James Harden. The Knicks were extremely dominant to start and even got out to a 28 point lead.

Of course, no lead is ever safe in the NBA, and that appears to be especially true with the Knicks because the team went ice cold in the fourth quarter and they ended up dropping the game in regulation.

This is nothing new to Knicks fans as they also blew a massive lead to the Lakers and Blazers earlier in the month, making this the third time they’ve lost a 20+ lead in a month.

After the game, Knicks center Mitchell Robinson went on social media to defend his play in a game where he only shot the ball twice and finished with two points and seven rebounds.

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Robinson Responds

After the game, he defended his performance by implying that he’s not the star player, so the blame shouldn’t be placed on him.

“When I became the man on the team?” he asked. “I gotta get it how I live out the mud on offensive rebounds and put backs, relax.”

Following up a 14 points, 17 rebounds, four blocks, four steals performance with a two point dub is definitely disappointing, but he might have a point.

The fact of the matter is that Robinson doesn’t get plays drawn up for him and most of his production does come off catching lobs or putbacks off of misses. Robinson is shooting 76.2 percent from the floor this season, but the vast majority of those shots come right in front of the basket.

As a result of this, it seems like Robinson is a bit confused about the hate coming his way. Some fans have implored him to stop tweeting, but he indicated that he would not be doing that.

For what it’s worth, Robinson has been a bright spot on an otherwise struggling Knicks team and when he’s healthy, he’s proven he can be a very dominant force on the defensive end. If he’s able to develop a few more offensive moves, then he could be one of the top centers in the league. His free throws also remain a problem as he’s hitting around half of them on the year so far.

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What’s Robinson’s Future?

All of this comes in the middle of a huge uncertainty with the Knicks and their center. Robinson did not sign a contract extension nor was he traded at the deadline, despite interest from the Pistons.

This means the team will either have to work something out in the offseason or he’ll walk for nothing. He’s a big part of the team, and with Nerlens Noel barely playing this season and Taj Gibson being closer to retirement than his prime, it’s clear that Robinson is an important piece.

It’ll be interesting to see what the Knicks decide to do with him in the future, but the good news is he’ll at least be playing out the rest of the season in New York.

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