Mitchell Robinson’s availability continues to be a nightly question mark.
He was out for the Knicks’ 119-102 win over the Wizards on Monday night at Madison Square Garden for left ankle injury management, the same designation he’s carried since the start of the year. In his place, coach Mike Brown inserted Landry Shamet into the starting lineup on Monday. Shamet recorded 11 points.
Monday was the second leg of the first Knicks back-to-back of the season, after they beat the Bulls at home on Sunday. Clearly, Robinson is not ready to handle workloads on consecutive days.
That means seven games into the season, Robinson has played just 33 minutes combined.
Coach Mike Brown was noncommittal on Monday whether Robinson will ever play both parts of a back-to-back this year. He clarified that Robinson has been on a minutes restriction.
“It’s just part of his load management,” Brown said. “We’ll keep doing that throughout the course of the year. Whatever they tell me, I’m gonna do.”
He played 13 minutes in Sunday’s win. He didn’t score but did haul in five rebounds — four of which were on the offensive glass. He briefly exited in the third quarter after landing awkwardly on his right ankle, but he quickly returned later in the quarter. It’s his left ankle that the Knicks are managing and which he had surgery on 18 months ago, resulting in him missing most of the regular season last year.
Robinson made his season debut during the Knicks loss to the Bulls in Chicago on Friday, recording four points and 11 rebounds (six offensive) in 20 minutes of action.
Josh Hart (left ankle sprain) entered Monday questionable, but was available and was impactful for the second straight night. His rough early season struggles seem to be behind him. He finished with 12 points, 10 rebounds and five assists.
He has been the walking wounded this year — he missed the first game of the year with lower back spasms and on Sunday revealed that he is dealing with nerve damage in his ring finger on his right shooting hand.
“Obviously frustrating,” Hart said about the injuries. “Basically been banged up and hurt for what, three months? It’s a little frustrating, but it comes with the territory. It comes with being in a contact sport, so it is what it is.”
Guerschon Yabusele, who had played just five minutes total the previous two games and who Brown acknowledged was on the fringe of the rotation, logged 14 minutes on Monday and grabbed three rebounds. He missed both shots he attempted — two 3-pointers — however.
“Yabu did an amazing job, a lot of things that don’t show up in the stat sheet,” Karl-Anthony Towns said. “He impacted the game of winning.”
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