Throughout the first several months of the season, there was a slow drip of steady updates on progress and then stretches of nothing. Meanwhile, on the court, the Knicks experienced periods of solid play like nothing was amiss followed by moments when the team's balance appeared completely misaligned and the absence was apparent.
Mitchell Robinson, the reserve center whose health has been one of the Knicks’ biggest unanswered questions as injuries forced him to miss the first 58 games of the season, played for the eighth time on Monday night. And he looked like the player who caused New York fans’ hearts to grow fonder.
"I feel good," Robinson said after logging a season-high 24 minutes in a 116-95 win over the Miami Heat. "I'm finally getting the rhythm back a little bit, so that's great. Basically, just keep going."
Coming off the bench, he finished with 10 points on 5-for-7 shooting (with all his attempts coming right at the basket), nine rebounds (five offensive), two blocks, two steals, and an assist, and was a plus-8.
Of course, the 26-year-old center's biggest impact is on the defensive side. And now that Tom Thibodeau can finally put out lineups that feature two big men, with Robinson paired with Karl-Anthony Towns, the promise of a stout defense may be closer to realization.
“He’s such a huge factor,” the head coach said of Robinson. “And particularly when you have him and KAT out there together, you have two 7-footers. And then when OG [Anunoby is] on the frontline with them also, you’re just so long, the basket’s protected.
“I think the rim protection, [Robinson’s] ability to get out on the perimeter, defend pick-and-roll, challenge shots, cover a lot of ground, and make a second or third effort to be up on the pick-and-roll and then still get back to rebound and change shots.”
"Just his presence alone adds to our defense," said Towns, who played nine fourth-quarter minutes in a game that was already decided to get more time to mesh with the fellow big.
"It adds a lot to our team. He gives us a chance to get real versatile with our lineups,” he continued. “So today was a good day, too. We got that 4-5 with me and him. It caused, I think, some problems and allowed us to see how we can improve on that."
The extra time spent on the court together for the two big men should pay off as New York faces tougher battles than a languishing Heat team slumping to their eighth straight loss.
"I missed 10 months," Robinson said. "So, coming back… it's just got to build trust."
For the head coach, there’s a lot to like.
“You’re seeing more and more multiple-effort plays from him,” Thibodeau said. “I think his timing is coming around, so he’s moving great and he feels great.”
From slow start to no contest
The night may have ended perfectly, but it didn’t start that way. New York was down 12-0 just four minutes into the contest and trailed 29-18 after the first quarter, a period in which the home team shot just 31.8 percent (7-for-22).
“Obviously we started the game slowly,” Thibodeau said. “I thought our bench gave us a good lift to get out of the hole. The way we played in the third quarter -- lotta energy, I thought the defense was terrific.”
In that third, the Knicks held the Heat to 15 points on 7-for-19 shooting (37 percent). And no matter how many timeouts Erik Spoelstra called, he couldn't cool off the home side as they exploded for 41 points on 16-for-23 shooting (70 percent).
Mikal Bridges, who scored 10 in the first quarter, owned the run in the third with 15 points on 6-for-7 shooting. And Robinson, in just five minutes of action, was a plus-15 with four points and three rebounds.
“I thought Mitch was a huge factor and then the unselfishness,” Thibs continued. “I thought Mikal had a huge game for us and Josh was a monster. We had a lot of guys step up.
“It was a tough game coming off the West Coast and to be ready to go. But I thought our team responded well.”
Of course, the Knicks wouldn't have been in such a good position to put the game out of reach after three quarters, had Towns not taken over in the second, scoring 15 points on 6-for-9 shooting (3-for-3 from behind the arc).
"He gave us life," Thibs said. "It got sparked by a couple hustle plays, OG made a couple of really big plays defensively, and sort of got us going. We got some easy baskets in transition and then we went from there."