The Agony and the Ecstasy

On a night the Knicks got a resounding win, we learned that Mitchell Robinson is likely gone for the season.

Good morning.

So, funny story…I tested positive for COVID yesterday. First time ever. I feel ok, really run down, bit of a headache, nothing serious…but definitely not trying to push it. The plan was to wrap up a quick(ish) postgame show and explain to everyone that today’s newsletter would be slightly abbreviated, but that I’d make up for it tomorrow.

Well, you know they say about best laid plans…

News & Notes

🏀 FML.

The Mitch news dropped about an hour after their win over the Nets, which took all the air out of the balloon and then some. Some logistics on what this means:

• As Fred Katz noted, a disabled player exception will be awarded if the NBA's doctors believe a player is “substantially more likely than not” to be out through June 15. In other words, their own doctors believe Mitch is gone for the year.

• On that note, Stef Bondy reported that he’s heard “it was a fracture and required insertion of screws.”

• Per our own Jeremy Cohen, The $7.8 million DPE, if awarded, can only be used to acquire a single player on an expiring contract. It also can’t be combined in any form or fashion (so, for example, they can’t trade away a player making $2.2 million and then take back a player making $10 million. Whoever they acquire has to fit into the exception).

• Also per Jeremy, the Knicks still have to stay under the $172.3 million hard cap because they used their full midlevel to sign DiVincenzo. This shouldn’t be an issue though, as their current total cap allocations are more than $7.8 million away from the hard cap, but it is something to keep in mind if you’re thinking about multiple trades that will add salary to their books.

I’m going to process this more fully and have more to say tomorrow, but in short, this is a massive, massive blow. A healthy Mitchell Robinson raises the ceiling of this team to one that, if they’re really firing on all cylinders, can compete with just about anyone in a seven-game series. Without him, they become a less dangerous team, especially on the defensive end, where sporting even a league-average unit could be a challenge. As a result, even making the playoffs shouldn’t be viewed as a guarantee in light of this news.

With all that being said, no team in the NBA has rolled with more punches over the last 12 months than the New York Knicks, and they should have what it takes to roll with this. For one, as we’ve been reminded over the last week and a half, Isaiah Hartenstein makes them a better offensive team. He’s also no slouch on defense, and while you can count the centers on one hand who can anchor pick and roll coverage better than Mitch, I-Hart is big, smart, moves well, and fights like hell.

If we’re getting really ahead of ourselves, there’s an argument that against the two most fearsome East opponents, Boston and Milwaukee, Hartenstein is the better center option on balance.

But we’re a long, long way off from finding out if that’s true or not. In the meantime, the Knicks should absolutely look to bring in a reinforcement. Lots of names are already being thrown around, but I’m giving a tip of the cap to Mythic Monty in last night’s postgame for bringing up the one that (to me) makes the most sense given the likely cost in assets, availability, and salary cap ramifications/feasibility: Mason Plumlee.

Plumlee is one of the least inspiring players to play major NBA minutes over the last decade, but that’s only because he’s Wonder Bread: gets the job done with as little fanfare as humanly possible. He’s on the shelf until at least January with an injury he suffered against the Knicks, but the Clippers already have his replacement in Daniel Theis, who has fit in perfectly as LA’s backup five. Plumlee is on an expiring $5 million contract, and actually gives you a little of what I-Hart does on the offensive end.

The other name I thought of (as did many others, I’m sure) is Andre Drummond, who is on an expiring minimum deal with the Bulls. He does the one thing that will give Thibs’ pause about going small with Randle as the backup five, and that is rebound. Few have ever done it better. He’s also really freaking big and knows how to play drop coverage. The issue here is that the Bulls are dumb enough to think their season still matters, so it’s unlikely they’ll engage on any of their non-LaVine players for the time being.

I’m sure some other names will be tossed about, but I’d bet on New York riding it out with the current crop of bigs for a while. Besides, no one is going to gift them a decent backup center on the cheap anytime soon, so they probably don’t have a choice.

Game 27: Knicks 121, Nets 102

Well, this was a really fun night for a while…

In a New York minute…

The Knicks came out of the gate with exactly the sort of professional approach you’d hope from a team finishing off a long road trip against an inferior team, getting out to a 14-point lead after one. The Nets got back in it in the second thanks to some hot outside shooting and an uncharacteristically poor two-way performance from the bench mob, but the Knicks still took a nine-point lead into halftime. The starters pushed the advantage to 20 before getting a little lackadaisical on D and allowing Brooklyn to get within seven, but a 14-0 run between the end of the third and start of the fourth quarter pretty much put the game on ice.

Three Things

1. Randle rolling. Spoiler alert for Stars of the Game, but last night was all about the Knicks having a guy who their opponent had absolutely zero answers for.

His final stats were somewhat pedestrian by his recent standards - 26 points on 20 shots, plus seven boards and four dimes - but Julius Randle imposed his will on Brooklyn repeatedly in this game, and they could never figure out what to do with him. Net after Net took their shot at one-on-one coverage, and Net after Net was disposed of like day-old Brooklyn bagels.

That’s Mikal Bridges, the 2022 Defensive Player of the Year runner up. Julius turned him into a pin cushion.

It was that way all night, and even though he still isn’t hitting from deep (0-for-4 in this game, under 30 percent for the year), it’s not impacting how teams are able to guard him one bit.

The best basketball of Randle’s career is being played right now.

2. Small Ball, briefly. Late in the first, Isaiah Hartenstein exited the game after getting inadvertently elbowed in the mouth on a Mikal drive, needing tending to in the locker room. Taj Gibson entered, but then he had to leave with an injured ankle. As a result, for exactly ninety seconds, the Knicks went small.

It didn’t go great. Day’Ron Sharpe, Brooklyn’s glass maven, grabbed two offensive boards on two possessions with Julius manning the middle. He got one layup and drew two fouls before Hartenstein was able to re-enter the game.

Small-ball might still have life in small stints against certain opponents, but last night wasn’t one of them.

3. Good defense, with a little luck. Brooklyn hit 37-of-101 shots in this game, including just 15-of-47 from deep, for an effective field goal percentage of 44.1. That nearly tied their lowest total of the season, and was the lowest eFG% for any Knick opponent in 27 games. A lot of that had to do with New York’s active defense, which was engaged and flying around for the majority of the night. The Nets also bricked some looks they usually make.

Forgive me for not feeling bad. Teams have been torching the Knicks for weeks, and on the season they’ve been more unlucky than not where opponents’ 3-point percentage is concerned.

Not only did they deserve a break here, but they more than earned it.

Play of the Day

With respect to a perfect I-Hart outlet to Julius early in the game and a beautiful IQ pass to Grimes on a backdoor cut in the fourth, this two-way sequence from late in the first half takes the cake:

After the turnover, Isaiah Hartenstein partook in what has become a nightly tradition and made a spectacular block at the rim in transition, ultimately resulting in an easy DDV finish on the other end. Not shown: on the Nets’ final attempt of the half, I-Hart played perfect D on Mikal Bridges after a switch and stymied his midrange attempt.

A different end to the half could have given this game a much different tenor heading into the third, but instead the Knicks were up nine and opened the third with an 11-0 run. Brooklyn could never recover.

💫 Stars of the Game 💫

⭐️ Isaiah Hartenstein: Textbook example of a guy having his fingerprints all over a game despite having just two points.

Here’s the best compliment I can possibly give Hartenstein: my concern level over Mitch’s absence is almost completely centered on the 12-18 minutes Hartenstein won’t be in the game each night, and not on I-Hart holding his own (and then some) for the other 30-36.

⭐️ ⭐️ Donte DiVincenzo: He’s been making a habit of setting the tone early with his shooting and activity on both ends, and last night was no exception.

Finished 9-for-15 overall and 5-of-10 from deep, with three steals and eight rebounds in just 23 minutes. How many 6'4" guards do you know who can do that?

⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ Julius Randle: Spoiler alert for tomorrow’s newsletter: I’ve made my preliminary picks for the 2024 Eastern Conference All-Star team, and a certain battering ram may have made the cut.

Tip-Ins…

🏀 Unsung hero of the game: Josh Hart, who had a team-high 13 rebounds and was all over the court at both ends. Between him and DiVincenzo, New York has two of the best rebounding guards in the league - something that will be vital to them surviving the rest of the season without Mitch.

🏀 Unsung hero of the game No. 2: RJ Barrett, who once again played top notch defense and finished with a perfectly fine 14 points on 11 shots, including this nifty little number I don’t think we’ve ever seen before.

Probably should have passed it to Grimes, but who’s counting!

🏀 Unsung hero of the game No. 3: Immanuel Quickley (19 points on 7-of-12 shooting) nearly captured the efficiency belt from DiVincenzo thanks to two late triples, including an audacious three while he was falling out of bounds. Even more audacious: the ref dinging him for a flopping tech on the play, in what has to be the worst call I’ve seen in an NBA game this year.

🏀 Unsung hero of the game No. 4: Jalen Brunson. Brooklyn is one of the worst matchups in the league for him with their length, and he forced the issue at times, but when the game got tight in the middle of the third, guess who came through with a couple of big baskets to keep Brooklyn at bay.

🏀 After the win, New York is now in sole possession of 5th place in the East, and just a half game back of struggling Orlando.

Can they keep a top-six spot without Mitch for the rest of the year? With no less than a dozen teams still very much competing, it won’t be easy.

Up Next…

Milwaukee on Saturday in the first of two straight against the Bucks at MSG.

Final Thought

Get better soon, big guy. We’ll miss you.

🏀

“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”