James Dolan says Knicks' Mitchell Robinson will miss four more weeks
Knicks center Mitchell Robinson controls the ball against Suns center Deandre Ayton during the first quarter at Madison Square Garden on Jan. 2. Credit: Brad Penner
BOSTON — The Knicks keep it very close to the vest with injury updates, but when Madison Square Garden chairman James Dolan appeared on “Good Morning New York’’ on Thursday, he provided an update on injured center Mitchell Robinson.
The word from the team has been that Robinson will be reevaluated three weeks after the Jan. 19 surgery. Dolan said on the show that the team will be without Robinson for four more weeks.
“The Knicks are doing well,” he said. “They’re not at the top of the league, but they’re not at the bottom and they’re in a playoff position now.
“We just lost a player — Mitchell Robinson — for four weeks and he was important to us. So we have to make it through the next four weeks.”
Time keeper
While more teams and players, including the Knicks’ Jalen Brunson, have begun to utilize the tactic of rolling the ball upcourt to keep the 24-second clock from starting, not all approach it with the proper planning.
Although rolling the ball can allow a team to utilize more of the shot clock for their offensive set rather than wasting seconds bringing the ball upcourt (the shot clock doesn’t start until the ball is touched), it also can be used to burn time on the game clock when protecting a lead.
For example, before the final two minutes of the fourth quarter (and final minute of the first three quarters), the game clock continues to tick away after a made basket, but the shot clock remains frozen. So if the ball isn’t touched for 10 seconds, a team protecting a lead can burn 34 seconds on a possession.
“Just depending on the situation,” Brunson said of his use of the tactic. “Obviously, if you have a lead, kill a little time. But also, if time’s not on our side, letting the ball roll, getting up to as close to the play as possible to kind of give us an advantage. It’s a tactic. And I think sometimes it can get out of hand. Sometimes it’s smart and just another way of how the game is going. Guys are smarter. How are you going to react and how are you going to be able to combat how smart guys are.”
Silent treatment
Brunson, with his Pennsylvania roots, is an ardent Philadelphia Eagles fan, but in the wake of the one-sided win over the Giants, he wanted to stop the chatter — but then couldn’t help himself.
Asked about the Eagles' next game Sunday in the NFC Championship Game, he said, “No comment, because I’m getting killed every time I talk about the Eagles. Actually, I do have a comment. I’m excited. Not worried, but I have faith in the boys.”
As far as answering back the trash talk from Obi Toppin about the Giants, he added, “I think the score is enough. The score is enough . . . [The] way we won, nothing needed to be said, so I’m just gonna leave it at that.”
Steve Popper covers the Knicks for Newsday. He has spent nearly three decades covering the Knicks and the NBA, along with just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.
