NEW ORLEANS — It was clear, from watching live and the replays, Mitchell Robinson didn’t purposefully throw Patrick Williams to the court.
Robinson arrived late and the challenge was a tad lazy, but there was no malicious follow-through as he connected with Williams’ body. Still, the face contact prompted a flagrant foul Thursday night in Chicago, and Williams’ awkward landing tore ligaments in his wrist and sent him to season-ending surgery.
Robinson noticed accusations on social media that he purposefully injured Williams, who represents Chicago’s best interior defender.
New York’s center defended himself Saturday.
“I was just reading stuff and people trying to make it seem like it was something that it’s not, which that’s what people want to do,” Robinson said. “I went down myself. I know the pain. I know what it is. So when somebody goes down, I feel what they feel. I went through two injuries back-to-back. That’s the worst feeling in the world.”
Indeed, Robinson understands the personal torture and momentum killers of injuries. Amid a breakthrough campaign last season — and with the possibility of a contract extension looming — he broke his hand and foot on fluky plays within 1 1/2 months of each other.
The fractured foot sent Robinson on a long rehab that still is being managed. In that Chicago game, for instance, Robinson turned his ankle, fell to the court in pain as the sole of his Nike was sliced on the fall. It wasn’t the first time Robinson’s sneaker burst.
“That’s like the third one that did that,” said Robinson. “I’m coming back from my own foot injury, so I got a special thing that’s in my shoes. It was cutting through.”
Sneakers replaced, Robinson helped secure the victory by double-teaming a potential game-winner by Chicago’s DeMar DeRozan. It capped another impactful performance from Robinson as Tom Thibodeau’s rim protector, and quickly transitioned to Robinson’s homecoming game Saturday in New Orleans.
“It’s home. It don’t get better than that,” said Robinson, who attended Chalmette HS just 10 miles from the Smoothie King Center. “So just go out and play hard.”
Robinson’s emergence as New York’s reliable starting center has been among the bigger pleasant surprises of the team’s hot start. The Knicks had signed Nerlens Noel, a player with a similar skillset, to a three-year, $27 million deal in the offseason, at the same time Robinson was recovering from his foot fracture.
But Noel missed his sixth straight game Saturday with knee soreness, and coach Tom Thibodeau has been impressed with Robinson’s stronger physique.
“I think he can hold his ground a lot better,” Thibodeau said. “He’s still working his way through the conditioning. But overall, very pleased with everything that he’s doing.”
Robinson, who has flaunted his weight-room work by frequently flexing his biceps, agreed with his coach’s assessment. Already the NBA’s single-season record holder for shooting percentage (accomplished in 2019-20), he was shooting a ridiculous 86.4% heading into Saturday in 30.8 minutes.
“I feel like my weight helps me tremendously,” he said. “Last couple years, people bump me, I would jump back two, three feet away. Now it’s a little bit different. I’m not budging like that.”
Earlier in his career, the key to Robinson’s success was avoiding foul trouble. Under Thibodeau, he better learned disciplined defending.
Now the key is health, which is fickle for a high-flying 7-footer operating on a surgically-repaired foot. There have been some scares, but Robinson returned home Saturday in a great position.
