New York Knicks big man Mitchell Robinson played a crucial role to help his team advance to the second round of the NBA playoffs.
Robinson was a defensive anchor who averaged 2.2 blocks and 1.2 steals per game. But his most valuable contribution was when he crashed the glass. He averaged 9.8 rebounds per game, somehow averaging 5.8 offensive rebounds, during the series.
He finished the final game of the series with 18 rebounds, providing 11 offensive rebounds, in the closeout victory over the Cavaliers. He was shocked and surely proud of himself when he saw the stat sheet provided by the team during the postgame press conference:
Mitchell Robinson finding out he had 11 offensive rebounds in the Knicks W 🤣#NBAPlayoffs presented by Google Pixel pic.twitter.com/AeAaFBfL7N
— NBA (@NBA) April 27, 2023
It was wonderful to see how proud Robinson was to pull down those 11 offensive rebounds, and his work on the glass was integral to why the Knicks ended up winning the series.
New York recorded 91 second-chance points during the opening round of the playoffs, which was the most of any team in the Eastern Conference thus far, via NBA.com. The Knicks also averaged an additional 3.6 second-chance possessions per 100 when he was on the court relative to when he was not, via PBPStats.
6.8 percent of their offensive possession ended with putbacks, per Synergy, which is currently the most of any team in the postseason. Robinson leads all players in points scored (22) off putbacks as well.
Robinson will hope to carry that momentum when the Knicks begin their next round of the postseason against the Heat on Sunday.
