On Tuesday, as the New York Knicks emerged from the rubble of back-to-back losses to would-be conference peers, Tom Thibodeau shined a Bat-Signal on a potential 7-foot savior. Mitchell Robinson has not played a minute this season, sidelined since last May following left ankle surgery, but the springy, shot-blocking big man was nearing a return. Robinson “did everything,” Thibodeau said and was “very active” as he inched closer to his season debut.
By any metric this has been a strong season in New York. The Knicks are 38–20 after squeezing past the woebegone Philadelphia 76ers on Wednesday with the best winning percentage (65.5%) of the Thibodeau era. They have a firm grasp on the third seed in the Eastern Conference, well positioned to advance to the conference semifinals for the third straight season.
