Mitchell Robinson trotted to the bench with a smile so broad, you possibly can see it from the opposite aspect of the bridge.
Only Latrell Sprewell bought louder applause than the Knicks’ beginning heart Wednesday night time.
It took a Knicks legend sitting courtside throughout an elimination Game 5 to one-up the standing ovation Robinson acquired when he spoiled the Miami Heat’s late-game plans.
Trailing eight with beneath 5:30 left within the fourth quarter of the Heat’s futile try and close-out their second-round playoff sequence towards the Knicks at Madison Square Garden, the Heat resorted to deliberately fouling Robinson, a traditionally poor free throw shooter who has shot worse than 50% from the road in every of his final three seasons.
The lanky, athletic huge man stepped to the foul line and mentioned 4 phrases to himself: “I’m knocking these down.”
Robinson made the primary together with his funky — some would say, damaged — free-throw taking pictures kind, then signaled to the group to cheer louder.
“The crowd, they helped me out,” he mentioned postgame. “They basically showed me they believed in me, and I knocked them down.”
It grew to become clear this was Miami’s recreation plan the following time down the ground — the notorious technique to hack an opposing staff’s worst free throw shooter, popularized by Shaquille O’Neal’s struggles that shortly grew to become coined because the “Hack-a-Shaq” technique.
The Heat hacked-a-Mitch twice within the waning minutes of the ultimate interval, the next try away from the ball the very subsequent possession.
“We didn’t expect it,” place to begin guard Jalen Brunson mentioned of Miami’s late-game fouling technique after enjoying all 48 minutes in Game 5. “They’re a great coaching staff over there. But I think we have confidence in Mitch, no matter what the situation is.”
This time, the embattled shooter made each free throws and exited the sport to an extended, louder ovation when head coach Tom Thibodeau pulled him from the sport seconds later.
And when the seven-foot heart stepped to the road with 21.3 seconds in regulation with the Knicks up six, Robinson calmly netted the primary free throw to successfully finish the sport. He missed the second, however Julius Randle got here up with the rebound, disposed of the closest Heat defender and dunked house the ultimate basket of the night time — courtesy of a well-placed missed free throw by his beginning heart.
“That was big-time of Mitch to be ready,” mentioned his teammate, RJ Barrett. “He works on those free throws every day, so to come out, especially in a game like this, where it’s do or die. To be able to step up and make those free throws was huge.”
Robinson completed the night time taking pictures four-of-eight from the foul line, about on par together with his profession common of 1 made free throw for each two makes an attempt. It’s a step ahead for the massive man, nevertheless, contemplating he had shot simply 3-of-12 from the road by way of the primary 4 video games of this sequence and simply 4-of-11 from the road within the first-round sequence towards the Cleveland Cavaliers.
“If he goes up there and misses them, he misses them,” Brunson mentioned. “We’re gonna go out there and have his back on the other side of the ball. We have great confidence in him. He made a couple, felt good, and made a couple more.”
Made free throws are one thing the Knicks will want extra of in the event that they hope to show a as soon as 3-1 playoff sequence deficit into a visit to the Eastern Conference Finals. Offense for the Knicks has already been troublesome to come back by. Robinson might want to knock down each free throw he will get his palms on.
After Wednesday night time, he ought to know a sold-out crowd is able to sing his praises for each shot he knocks down. His head coach, nevertheless, sung praises for causes aside from his well timed shot-making on the line.
“That was huge,” Thibodeau mentioned of Robinson’s free throws. “And obviously those were huge free throws, but his rebounding in the fourth, but not just the ones that were in his area, but the ones that were out of his area. To go get them said a lot. The rebounding is big in this game, and I think — obviously, we’ve gotta get our turnovers down — but I think that the rebounding, that’s a big part of our defense, and we’ve gotta continue to make sure that we prioritize it.”
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Source: www.bostonherald.com