New York Knicks: How Mitchell Robinson Snapped Julius Randle's Early Woes
Mitchell Robinson and his camp have yearned for a bigger impact on the New York Knicks' offense.
Robinson is improving the Knicks' box scores, but in a relatively unexpected manner: a report from Fred Katz of The Athletic credited New York's recent scoring surge to the newfound collaboration between Robinson and leading scorer Julius Randle.
With the latter far from full strength due to the lingering aftershocks of offseason ankle surgery, Robinson has paved the way to easier baskets by setting impenetrable screens for the primary power forward. The uncanny collaboration has paid off: over the past two games, both New York victories, Randle has tallied a combined 50 points on 17-of-40 shooting. The Knicks (4-4) are a plus-33 on the scoreboard when Randle's been on the floor in that brief span.
“The size is out of the lane,” Randle noted in Katz's report. “I’m playing one-on-one downhill rather than trying to beat my guy and then trying to finish over another.”
Randle has developed a preference for outside shooting but has gone for easy baskets with Robinson directing defensive traffic, allowing him to get back on track after starting the year shooting a frigid 27.1 percent from the field in his first six appearances.
Call it another avenue of Robinson's game the Knicks are happy to develop and showcase. Next to RJ Barrett, Robinson has been the Knicks' pile-driver in both the rebounding and defensive departments, as he's on a downright historic pace on the offensive glass. Now, he's helping Randle re-discover his All-Star form after his inefficiency doomed the Knicks' early prospects.
Robinson (23) and Randle (30) play defense against the Memphis Grizzlies during the 2021-22 season
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Both Katz and Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau note the uncanny metropolitan phenomenon of a traditional center opening the lanes for a power forward. But Thibodeau appreciates the extra layer of second-guessing that opposing defenses are exposed to as the Knicks try to drag themselves out of an early offensive stupor.
“It’s a four-five (center-power forward) pick-and-roll, so you’ve got to make a decision whether you’re switching on it or you’re trying to keep the matchup,” Thibodeau said. “(Randle is) just aggressive getting downhill into the paint and makes the right reads.”
Once Randle gets back to 100 percent, he has made it clear that he wants to re-establish his outside dominion. It's hard to blame him, especially considering he became just the third New Yorker to sink at least 200 in a single season last year, joining John Starks and teammate Evan Fournier. At 218, Randle might've had a shot at the franchise record 241 set by Fournier in 2021-22 if not for the ankle injury that forced the surgery in question and cost him the final five games of last regular season.
Until he fully regains that outside spark, however, he's more than happy to carry out his newfound duet duties with Robinson.
"I’ve always been an inside-out player and that’s how I’m more efficient,” Randle said. “I just got to keep doing those things, keep being more efficient as the games go on.”
Continued collaboration with Robinson would certainly be a good start.
The Knicks will look to show off the continued collaboration on Sunday afternoon when the Charlotte Hornets visit Madison Square Garden (12 p.m. ET, MSG).
