Winning Ugly

They won't get any style points, but the Knicks secured their third straight win thanks in large part to their big man off the bench.

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Knicks 103, Kings 87

28-18 (W3); 18-6 at home

Eight years ago, when the Knicks used an early second round pick on a lanky giant from Chalmette, Louisiana, it was hard to know what, if anything, they were going to get out of him.

After all, Mitchell Robinson’s brief basketball career up to that point hadn’t exactly projected a surefire future pro.

He went to college but never played a game, eventually dropping out to declare for the draft. By the time the Knicks took him at 36, he’d already been through several agents, even inciting a lawsuit between his two of his reps over certain improprieties. The fact that a consensus top-10 talent dropped all the way to the second round told you everything you needed to know about the risk New York was taking on.

Turns out, he was worth it.

For that first season, as the Knicks spewed out one craptastic performance after another, Robinson became the only thing worth watching. You wondered whether tonight would be the night he’d swat double digit shots or grab 10 offensive boards (he topped out at nine for both), but through the ups and downs of his rookie campaign, his energy never waned.

Now, playing for a team whose expectations are as high as those of the 2018-19 Knicks were low, nothing much has changed. Mitch remains the most exciting, watchable part of this basketball team. We enter every night wondering what new height he might reach, all the while knowing he’ll give it everything he’s got in the process.

Boy oh boy, do they need it.