Bucks 109, Knicks 103: The Mitch is back
Another loss shouldn’t disguise one Knicks takeaway that’s a big — and I do mean big — plus.
The New York Knicks put forth a valiant effort last night, thought not, in the end, enough to overcome the Milwaukee Bucks, who won 109-103. It was New York’s sixth loss in seven home games. A fair effort, but still a failing. Or was it?
Most nights, the Knicks’ best players give them some sort of edge. No, Jalen Brunson and Julius Randle aren’t Stockton/Malone, but they’re good players, well above average. When the matchup is Marvin Bagley III and Killian Hayes, that means something. When it’s Giannis Antetokounmpo and Jrue Holiday, not so much.
But there is another Knick who, a few times a year, reminds? teases? tantalizes? that when all systems are go, no one controls a game on both ends like he can. Last night was a reminder that Mitchell Robinson is – or rather, can be – that guy. Last night we also saw things from Mitch we often don’t, qualities that speak to a player growing into the fullness of his favor. You know about the dunks and the swats into the second row. You know he’s doubleplus good on the offensive glass. That plus a $15M average salary gets you a middle-class big. Last night, Mitch showed he can be so much more than mid.
One need look no further than Robinson’s opponent on the night to appreciate that since ball is life, and life is always evolving, so are ballers. Brook Lopez has, in many ways, been an exceptionally steady presence over his 15 years in the league.
In a league who’s style of play has morphed into something unrecognizable from Lopez’s early days, he’s proof of at least one concept that Mitch is too: big is scary and scary is good.
Yet it’s clear why Lopez is still an irreplaceable starter on a title contender while another big drafted in the same first round, one who’d made more All-Star teams by age 27 than Lopez ever has, was out of the Association six years ago. Knick fans surely remember Roy Hibbert, who lived large for a while but who, once the league said let’s take things outside, couldn’t keep up, on either end. Lopez, a low-post maestro who over nine years as a Net took two-thirds of his shots from 0-10 feet, saw the game was evolving and leapt out of the primordial ooze launching 3-pointers and never looking back. Check out the percentage of his shot attempts that were 3-pointers over his career.
It’s been a protracted tough stretch for Mitch in recent years. For much of the 2021 season he was injured; for much of 2022 he was recovering and re-discovering his conditioning and fluidity; this year he’s already missed about 40% of the games. It can be easy in his absence to dream of other centers, or would be if Isaiah Hartenstein weren’t shooting 22% from deep and dishing more turnovers than assists, or Jericho Sims ever played more than 16 minutes when Robinson is available, which hasn’t happened this season.
It’s pleasant, remembering nights when the biggest Knick on the court is also the baddest. The feeling of remembering why you fell in love with Mitch so deeply in the first place is a resurrection that never grows tiresome. The Knicks lost the game, but in the process may have found their best big man again. The Mitch is back. Time will tell whether that’s a one-night show or an extended tour.
