It got lost in the historic comeback, but it’s something that will certainly play a factor going forward.
Mitchel Robinson was effective early in the Knicks’ epic 115-104 overtime win over the Cavaliers in Game 1 on Tuesday night at Madison Square Garden.
But Cavaliers coach Kenny Atkinson went to Hack-a-Mitch, and he was played off the floor.
The Cavaliers went to the strategy in the third quarter. Knicks coach Mike Brown left Robinson on the floor for a prolonged stretch despite it stifling their offense.
Robinson went 2-for-8 from the free throw line before Brown finally yanked him.
The Knicks deficit went from 14 to 15 points during that stretch.
“I wanted to give him a chance,” Brown said. “Mitch has been great for us the last few games in that situation. We’re gonna continue to give him a chance. We’ll move him around and do some different things with him. Mitch can impact the game in different ways, so we need him on the floor.”
But when the Knicks mounted their historic comeback, Robinson was glued to the bench. He played just one minute in the fourth quarter and overtime.
As the Knicks erased a 22-point fourth quarter deficit, Atkinson largely watched it unfold without calling a timeout.
It wasn’t until the Knicks had cut it to five points with 3:30 left in the fourth quarter that Atkinson finally called timeout.
“I like to hold my timeouts,” Atkinson said. “I didn’t want to have one timeout at the end of the game, one- or two-point game. I try to hold them.”
Avery Wilson, who plays the scarecrow in the 2024 revival of “The Wizard of Oz,” once again sang the national anthem before the game.
He has performed the anthem multiple times at MSG this postseason. The Knicks are undefeated in those games.
