BAD TIME FOR A BIG ‘T’
Mitch’s tech dooms Knicks in D.C.
WASHINGTON – Mitchell Robinson plays and, at least during games, speaks with a lot of emotion. But he also has to learn about boundaries, about circumstance, because Sunday he ruined what was left of the Knicks’ chances to beat the Wizards.
With five minutes left and the Knicks trailing by six, Robinson thought he was fouled when his dunk attempt was blocked by Bradley Beal. On the next Wizards possession, Robinson was called for a foul and protested to the point of the official issuing him a technical.
Washington, as a result, received three foul shots – hitting all of them – and took a ninepoint advantage that essentially broke the Knicks’ back in a 108-95 de- feat Sunday.
The Wizards led the rest of the way by double-digits.
“We had tough referees,” Robinson said.
David Fizdale likes the passion from his 20-year-old rookie, just not the timing. It represented Robinson’s third technical already since the start of preseason. He picked up the others by jawing at Markieff Morris and Kevin Durant.
“Yeah, we will want him (to tone it down) just from that standpoint. It’s a balance when you’re a passionate guy about the game,” Fizdale said. “You can play with passion but not do things to give up points through that passion. So it’s just, again, this is a learning curve for him but I’d rather have to tone him down than amp him up.”
The Wizards (2-7) entered Sunday a hot mess, losers of five straight with noise that GM Ernie Grunfeld and/or coach Scott Brooks could be in trouble.
Then the Knicks (3-7) came to town and provided a nice respite with their porous defense, careless possession, awful shooting and an ill-timed technical.
Coming off Friday’s victory in Dallas, the Knicks hit just 5 of their 27 3-point attempts and committed 18 turnovers. Part of the problem was Tim Hardaway Jr. was clearly hobbled with a bruised lower back, courtesy of a John Wall knee in the second quarter.
Hardaway, who hit just 2 of his 10 shots with a season-low seven points, was unsure if he’ll recover enough to play in tonight’s home game against the Bulls. Fizdale acknowledged he stuck with Hardaway too long Sunday.
Still, the Knicks tied the game at 86 with nine minutes remaining. Then the wheels fell off, and the Wizards’ backcourt of Beal and Wall finished with a combined 46 points on 15-of-29 shooting with 10 assists.
“I’ll obviously see what the trainers say (about Hardaway playing tonight). But yeah, obviously it affects us big time because we rely on Tim a lot,” Fizdale said. “When we go through our scoring lulls, or we have our youthful turnover moments or hold the ball moments, you know Tim is usually our bail-out guy. We didn’t have that (Sunday).”
Enes Kanter led the Knicks statistically off the bench with 18 points and 12 rebounds in 24 minutes. But Robinson got the start against arguably the strongest center in the NBA, Dwight Howard, and performed decently with 10 points and six rebounds.
Until that game-breaking sequence with five minutes left.
“I think we all have some frustration but we got to be able to control our emotions,” Fizdale said. “That’s a good lesson for him in the moment. He has to be able to play through that stuff and move on to the next play. Again, this is all part of his education.”
KNOX PROGRESSING
Kevin Knox needs to play 5on-5 before he’s cleared to return from his ankle sprain, Fizdale said.
Even though Knox was optimistic about his chances of playing against Chicago, Fizdale essentially ruled that out since it’s the second game of a backto-back and there’s no time to practice. That leaves either Wednesday’s game at Atlanta or Saturday’s game at Toronto for a Knox return. He has missed the last seven games since he sprained his ankle on Oct. 20 against the Celtics.
The rookie practiced Saturday and participated in a 3on-3 scrimmage. “I don’t really care about starting when I come back,” said Knox, who was coming off the bench before his injury. “Just trying to get out there and just get up and down the court, get some defensive stops, get a couple of dunks, get some baskets going.”