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As the Knicks gear up for a playoff run, Mitchell Robinson’s role remains one of the things that could push the team’s hopes of advancing far in the right direction. 

Since returning from left ankle surgery in February, Robinson has played in just 15 games. As New York has eased the seven-footer back into the rotation, he’s put up lukewarm numbers (averaging 5.0 points and 5.8 rebounds in 16.1 minutes). The big man has also looked gassed at times as he looks to get back into basketball shape. Robinson quipped last week, “I need to be able to play like seven minutes straight,” when he was asked where he wants to be physically.

There’s been some signs of progress. Filling in for Karl-Anthony Towns as a starter last week, Robinson had season-highs of 14 points and 14 rebounds in a 105-91 win against the Philadelphia 76ers. In the last eight games, Robinson has recorded at least nine rebounds on four different occasions.

Then there’s also the quiet nights. Robinson was scoreless with two rebounds against the Los Angeles Clippers two weeks ago. He had two points and two boards in 13 minutes in Sunday night’s 112-98 win against the Phoenix Suns.

Though he’s been inconsistent, the Knicks need Robinson’s presence on the defensive end. He brings a skill set that no other Knick player can offer. With a 7-foot-4 wingspan, Robinson is a legitimate rim-protector and he’s one of the best offensive rebounders in the NBA. In his limited minutes, the Knicks are defending better with him on the floor. The team is giving up 106.5 points per 100 possessions when Robinson is playing and 113.2 points when he’s sitting.

Limited available minutes

When the Knicks first traded for Towns, there were questions of if both centers would see the floor together often. So far, it’s been only an occasional option the club has gone to. Towns and Robinson have only played 41 minutes together according to NBA Stats.

But the results have been promising. Robinson and Towns have worked well together. With both centers on the floor, the Knicks are outscoring opponents by 10.7 points per 100 possessions.

If Robinson and Towns don’t play together, Robinson’s minutes will be cut. Towns plays around 35 minutes a night, which leaves very little time for Robinson to see the floor. The big man combo did see some time together against Phoenix. Finding time for Robinson to play will be a challenge for head coach Tom Thibodeau, but it’s a good problem to have. At the moment, New York has more depth on the roster than all season.

Quietly, Robinson has made a significant impact in the playoffs for the Knicks. In 2023, he dominated the offensive glass, pulverizing Cleveland Cavaliers big men Jarrett Allen and Evan Mobley in New York’s first round series win. As a backup in 2024, Robinson defended 76ers star Joel Embiid well in limited minutes. Before exiting the postseason early due to injury in 2024, the Knicks outscored opponents by 13.2 points per 100 possessions in Robinson’s 115 minutes.

With just four games left in the regular season, time is running out for Robinson to get into perfect shape. But just having his rim-protecting presence on the floor at certain moments should be a boon to the Knicks' defense in the postseason.

As NBA scrambled to catch up, Celtics put faith in championship core originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston

While many of the Celtics’ primary rivals spent the past year making roster tweaks seemingly designed to counteract what the defending champions do best, Boston’s president of basketball operations Brad Stevens elected to do something even bolder in the modern NBA: He decided to simply run it back with his championship core.

As the Celtics prep for their next postseason adventure, their roster looks almost identical to a season ago. Svi Mykhailiuk, Oshae Brissett, and Jaden Springer have departed; Baylor Scheierman and Torrey Craig are the new faces. In a league that’s constantly changing, the Celtics were content to keep their top nine intact and challenge everyone else to catch up.

What gave Stevens the confidence to lean into this core?

“At the end of the day, you have to assess your team at the end of every year,” said Stevens. “And there are all kinds of factors, right? There are factors — where you are in the aprons, now there are factors, certainly, of where you are in repeater taxes, and all of those things that come into play later on.

“But if you can look at your team and you’re able to bring back a team that is highly successful, with as elite of character, on and off the court as I’ve been around, [the decision to stay intact is a] no brainer.”

Celtics front office staffers have repeatedly marveled at Boston’s blend of not only elite basketball talent, but elite off-the-court character. Chemistry is off the charts and players embrace each other’s successes. The camaraderie of this group has kept everyone sane over the past 200 days, particularly when its loftiest goals can’t be achieved for another two months.

The Celtics will finish the season slightly below last year’s 64-win total. A year after finishing 14 games clear of its closest rival, Boston will almost certainly be the No. 2 seed looking up at the Cleveland Cavaliers. The Celtics’ scoring differential isn’t as glitzy as a season ago when it posted a top-five number all time, and the Oklahoma City Thunder might just bump Boston from that group with a historic mark of their own this season.

Still, Jaylen Brown has repeatedly suggested that these Celtics are better than a year ago when they steamrolled their competition en route to Banner 18. Does Stevens believe this year’s team is better, too?

“I think the way we played at our best is [better] and that’s not a surprise because we’re all back, right?” said Stevens. “We haven’t had a full complement of guys for very many games this year … but I believe in where we can go and I think we can consistently get there fast. I do think the competition is better, all around the league, East and West. And, ultimately, we’re going to have to play really well to do what we did last year.”

Undeniably, it feels like Boston’s bench has improved. Payton Pritchard should be the Sixth Man of the Year after thriving in an elevated role. Luke Kornet, who rushed to re-sign with Boston on what now feels like a criminally low minimum-salary contract, has been one of the most efficient big men in the entire league. Sam Hauser, when not hindered by back woes, continues to be a 3-point shooting menace. Al Horford refuses to look like a player that will turn 39 during the NBA postseason.

Boston’s preferred starting five of Brown, Jayson Tatum, Derrick White, Kristaps Porzingis, and Jrue Holiday has played only 23 games together. More concerning: That group has a minus-0.4 net rating in 343 minutes together — a far cry from the plus-11 net rating that group carried in 623 regular-season minutes together last season.

Stevens and the Celtics seem to believe that group can find its mojo quickly when the lights get bright.

Peter Casey-USA TODAY Sports

The Celtics are further emboldened by the way they’ve thrived whenever they are shorthanded. Boston has leaned heavy into different play styles, like utilizing multiple double-big lineups that have produced some of the team’s best basketball. The Celtics seemingly have ways to counteract whatever their opposition does best.

The question is whether those rivals did enough to take away Boston’s strengths. Teams scrambled to add wing defenders that could help defend the likes of Tatum and Brown. The Knicks kicked off last summer with the big-swing addition of Mikal Bridges; the Cavaliers added De’Andre Hunter at the trade deadline.

Stevens believes this isn’t unusual, and that teams routinely make changes based on the strengths of the NBA’s most successful squads.

“I don’t think this is specific to us. I don’t think we should make that bigger than what it is,” said Stevens. “Every team is always watching the last four teams play in late May and into June, and they’re deciding how they want to build their roster to combat those teams. I mean, that’s every year.

“And so last year was probably no exception than the other years that we’ve had success, other than we were the last one standing. So we’re used to that. We’re used to the standpoint of, everybody in this very competitive league is trying to get better all the time. And you do pay attention to who the last teams are standing to try to improve your own team.

“You’re also doing it from our standpoint with who you think the up-and-coming teams are. Who are some of the younger guys that look like they’re going to mesh and mold into those championship teams? As you think, not only the next couple of years, but down the line.”

But it’s telling that the Celtics didn’t need to make any tweaks of their own. The Celtics were downright dominant in their postseason run and they weren’t going to mess with a successful formula.

The Celtics are banking that another year of chemistry and cohesion will again differentiate this team on a big stage. The rest of the league may be better, but Boston feels like it is, too.

Four teams still in mix to play Celtics in first round of playoffs originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston

The Boston Celtics are just about locked into the No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference, which has been the case for quite a while.

The same can’t be said for which opponent the Celtics will face in the first round of the 2025 NBA playoffs. The race for the No. 7 seed is still very much up in the air.

There are four teams — the Orlando Magic, Atlanta Hawks, Chicago Bulls and Miami Heat — still in the mix, although the Magic and Hawks remain the favorites.

The Celtics’ first-round opponent will be the winner of the No. 7 vs. No. 8 game in the play-in tournament, which is scheduled for Tuesday, April 15. This means the Celtics will have about four or five days to prepare for their first-round series, which is expected to begin either Saturday, April 19 or Sunday, April 20.

Here’s an updated look at the standings and No. 7 seed probabilities as of Monday morning (probabilities via Basketball Reference:

The Magic and Hawks play each other twice more — Tuesday in Orlando and Sunday in Atlanta. Those two games could end up deciding which team hosts the No. 7 vs. No. 8 play-in tournament game.

The Magic also have to play the Celtics on Wednesday and the Indiana Pacers on Friday, while the Hawks also play the Brooklyn Nets on Thursday and Philadelphia 76ers on Friday.

The Bulls are only one game behind the Hawks for the No. 8 seed. They’ve won three games in a row and seven of their last 10. The Bulls have four games left — Tuesday against the Cleveland Cavaliers, Wednesday against the Heat, Friday against the Wizards and Sunday against the Sixers.

It looked like the Heat had dropped out of the No. 7 seed race in mid-March after losing 10 straight games. But a five-game win streak at the end of the month propelled Miami back into the mix. The Heat are still long shots to get into the No. 7 vs. No. 8 play-in game, but it’s not an impossible task.

Miami has four games remaining — Monday against the Sixers, Wednesday against the Bulls, Friday against the Pelicans and Sunday against the Wizards.

The ideal first-round opponent for the Celtics likely would be the Magic. Orlando is a strong defensive team, but its offense ranks among the worst in the league. The Magic are also dealing with injuries and don’t have a ton of playoff experience.

Overall, the Celtics shouldn’t have too much trouble with any potential Round 1 opponent. The real challenge doesn’t start until the conference semifinals.