The New York Knicks are tremendously feeling the absences of their two back centers. It is unclear when they will have Precious Achiuwa (hamstring) and Mitchell Robinson (ankle surgery) back from their injuries, but the Knicks have struggled mightily on the interior without them.
The Knicks are struggling on the interior without Precious Achiuwa and Mitchell Robinson
On Wednesday night against the Atlanta Hawks, the Knicks lost the rebound battle 48-41 and allowed 16 offensive rebounds to the Hawks. Additionally, New York gave up 58 points in the paint, the second consecutive game that they allowed at least 50 points in that area of the court as their interior defense has stumbled.
The lack of size and depth behind Karl-Anthony Towns is starting to hurt the Knicks, who have now dropped two straight games for the first time this season and fallen to a 3-4 record on the season. Jericho Sims has been the primary backup big man but has provided very little on either of the floor.
Against the Hawks, Sims played just nine minutes and recorded two rebounds without scoring. Sims has now had a scoreless outing in three consecutive games and is averaging just 3.9 rebounds off the bench this season.
The Knicks need their two bigs back on the floor sooner rather than later
Whenever Achiuwa comes back from injury, it is safe to assume that Sims will see drastically less playing time as Achiuwa is a more aggressive player on both ends despite being slightly undersized at 6-foot-8. However, when exactly he comes back is still up in the air, as the initial prognosis was a two-to-four week recovery at the end of the preseason.
Regardless of whenever Achiuwa returns, they will still be missing Robinson’s interior presence defensively. Additionally, his ability to grab offensive rebounds at a high level is something that the Knicks are badly missing, even with them shooting the ball at a highly efficient rate so far this season. Robinson is projected to be out until at least 2025 as he recovers from ankle surgery he underwent at the end of last season’s playoffs.
The Knicks have chosen to avoid playing some of their rookies and instead have opted for simply playing an eight or nine-man rotation until they return. Backup guard Cameron Payne has missed the last two games with a hamstring issue, leaving the bench incredibly thin.
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Eventually, the bench will look a lot better and have more depth, but for now, it will be tough sledding for the Knicks until they get at least one of Achiuwa or Robinson back on the floor.