![\"Mitchell](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/GettyImages-2270144745-e1776984196236.jpg\")
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\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tGetty\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
Mitchell Robinson #23 of the New York Knicks <\/p>\n
The New York Knicks<\/a> just endured a lengthy NBA year with a limited contribution from center Mitchell Robinson<\/a>, with the regular-season plan clearly focused on one thing only: Making sure Robinson is healthy and contributing for the playoffs. The Knicks were careful in terms of when and how long they played the delicate rim-protecting center, with the goal being to save him for when things matter most.<\/p>\n Now that the NBA playoffs are upon us and the Knicks are locked into a battle with the Atlanta Hawks<\/a> in the first round, it feels like this should be the time to let Robinson run wild. This is when things matter most. The Knicks were saving him for the playoffs and in the first two games Robinson was on the floor for \u2026 33 minutes. Total, for both games.<\/p>\n It does seem self-defeating to curate Robinson\u2019s minutes so carefully all year only to play him less in the postseason than the Knicks did in the regular season. And Mike Brown\u2019s explanation for why he\u2019s taking that approach is somewhat concerning for the Knicks going forward.<\/p>\n Knicks Not Willing to Play Karl-Anthony Towns and Mitchell Robinson Together<\/p>\n Talking to reporters before Game 3 in Atlanta on Thursday, Brown said the Knicks are just not having much luck with the Robinson-Karl-Anthony Towns<\/a> minutes, and so Brown is avoiding having both guys on the floor together. He said it was a matchup issue, but the fact is, if playing the team\u2019s top two big guys together is a problem in the first round, it probably will be so for the entire playoffs.<\/p>\n \u201cYou want it higher but the only way it\u2019s going to be higher is if you\u2014two ways, if you play Mitch and KAT together, or if you play KAT less,\u201d Brown said<\/a>. \u201cAnd the combination of the two of them right now hasn\u2019t been great, and so I am choosing to not play them together right now during this series a lot because of the matchups. And stuff like that.<\/p>\n \u201cAt the end of the day, it\u2019s a choice. I\u2019d love Mitch to play 25 minutes and I\u2019d love KAT to play 34, but they you\u2019d have to deal with those other two things.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2018Open to Everything and Anything\u2019<\/p>\n That is worrisome. The Knicks need the offensive versatility of Towns. They need the defensive presence of Robinson. But if they have to split 48 minutes between the two, they\u2019re not able to fully utilize the two.<\/p>\n Brown did say that, generally, the Knicks will continue to weigh changes to the rotation from game to game, and that could involve playing Robinson more. He has averaged 8.0 points, 5.5 rebounds and 1.5 blocks in his limited time on the floor. Towns has averaged\u00a0 21.5 points and 8.0 rebounds in two games, shooting 56.0% from the field.<\/p>\n Said Brown<\/a>: \u201cAt this point in time, you\u2019ve got to be open to anything and everything. As you guys know, it\u2019s never a dictatorship with me. I am constantly thinking about it, as well as getting everybody else involved, my assistant coaches, giving the players some ownership.\u201d<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tSean Deveney<\/a> is a veteran sports reporter covering the NBA, NFL and MLB for Heavy.com. He has written for Heavy since 2019 and has more than two decades of experience covering the NBA, including 17 years as the lead NBA reporter for the Sporting News. Deveney is the author of 7 nonfiction books, including “Fun City,” “Before Wrigley became Wrigley,” and “Facing Michael Jordan.” More about Sean Deveney<\/a>\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tMore Heavy on Knicks\n\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\tLoading more stories\n\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Getty Mitchell Robinson #23 of the New York Knicks The New York Knicks just endured a lengthy NBA…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":716834,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3768],"tags":[7,304,6,1136,191,3810,3806],"class_list":{"0":"post-716833","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york-knicks","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-knicks","10":"tag-nba","11":"tag-new-york","12":"tag-new-york-knicks","13":"tag-newyork","14":"tag-newyorkknicks"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/716833","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=716833"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/716833\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/716834"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=716833"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=716833"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=716833"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}