The New York Knicks have the luxury of having the services of backup center Mitchell Robinson, something they weren’t fortunate to have last year. However, despite the impact he provides on the glass and underneath the rim, there is a big problem he has that was hurting the Knicks in Game 1 of the second round against the Boston Celtics.
Knicks’ Mitchell Robinson’s free throw struggles are a real problem
As Boston began to mount a lead on New York in the second quarter, they began intentionally fouling Robinson to send him to the free throw line. To make matters worse, Josh Hart and Karl-Anthony Towns were in foul trouble, and Robinson shot just 2-for-8 from the free throw line through the hack-a-Mitch strategy.
That forced head coach Tom Thibodeau to play Precious Achiuwa for the final five minutes of the first half so that they would stop intentionally sending Robinson to the line. Achiuwa hadn’t played at all during the first round against the Detroit Pistons.
Achiuwa’s minutes did not help the Knicks, and they found themselves trailing by 16 at halftime. Luckily for them, they were able to mount a huge comeback from down 20 in the third quarter to win in overtime 108-105.
The Knicks may need to make adjustments as a result of Robinson’s misfortunes
However, Robinson’s free throw struggles are certainly a massive problem, especially with teams having caught on that he struggles mightily at the charity stripe. With him being a bad free throw shooter, it is going to be increasingly difficult for him to see the floor in a close game, as teams will just force him to do all of the scoring at the free throw line.
It’s a little too late to make a significant change to his free throw form now, so the Knicks will need to find a way to get him in the game in situations that teams won’t intentionally send him to the line in. Furthermore, Towns needs to do better at staying out of foul trouble, as without him, they are missing their second-best scorer.
It is to be determined if Thibodeau will shake up his rotations to prevent them from falling behind as a result of Robinson’s free throw struggles, but it is clear that they have a real problem on their hands to navigate through the rest of the postseason.