WASHINGTON – Knicks president Leon Rose paid a surprise visit to Washington on Friday night, taking just his second road game. He sits a few yards from senior VP William Wesley.
Rose saw her Knicks win the battle over the Wizards in a 109-91 route, in an empty Capital One Arena, but lost the war.
Knicks center Mitchell Robinson left the game in the third quarter after a first half of 10 points and 14 rebounds for X-rays showing he had broken his right hand.
The Knicks, as they say, can’t get a breather and lose their stud defense center for weeks. This is a team with no margin of error.
“It was probably his best first half of the year for him,” Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau said.
Robinson tried to block a shot, but collided with Julius Randle when he came down, and his hand hit Randle’s elbow. Robinson starts shaking his hand but stays in the game. He looked in distress as he missed two free throws – one that completely missed the edge.
“It’s very difficult, without him it would definitely be difficult,” Randle said.
The rehearsal staff showed Randle a video of the play in the locker room after the game and he chatted with Robinson.
“He’s very excited,” Randle said. ‘Extremely positive. He will still be with us every step of the way. ‘
Part of the Knicks’ relative success was continuity and staying free of injuries to key players. Now it’s crushed. They added Derrick Rose and he easily climbed with 14-point games in a row. Rose formed an electric tandem with rookie Immanuel Quickley as the backline and helped all of rookie Obi Toppin’s game.
Now they will try to continue with another Thibodeau favorite, Taj Gibson, who was signed as insurance last month, and take the chance for Robinson. And that insurance may or may not bear fruit.
The Post understands the Knicks are considering adding former 76ers goalie center Norvel Pelle (a poor man’s Robinson) to the forecourt, but Thibodeau wants Gibson. Pelle is now with the Nets.
Gibson played 12 minutes in the fourth quarter on Friday when the Knicks blew the whistle on the Wizards, who played without Bradley Beal. While Rose stayed in his seat, he might have calculated what other centers there would be, with Nerlens Noel now being the Knicks appetizer. Noel was a solid skin protector, but he also missed five games with a sore knee.
Thibodeau said he does not want to add a big man. He pointed out that the Knicks could also ‘get small’, with the obvious possibility that Randle will move to the center and get Toppin more minutes as he develops further.
In his rookie draw with the lottery with Deni Avdija of Israel, Toppin was more effective, with eight points on 4-for-5 shooting. Avdija also scored eight points, but was 1-for-5 on 3-points, despite having his fluid shot. The Knicks passed Avdija, who looks like he’s going to be the next Danilo Gallinari, when they drafted Toppin.
While Toppin’s role was poised to expand, Thibodeau was careful not to give a best case as the Knicks returned to New York for Robinson’s evaluation.
“I do not want to speculate about it,” Thibodeau said. “After he’s back in New York, we’ll look at our doctors and we’ll know exactly what the time frame looks like there. That would be an estimate. ‘
The Knicks tackle the Rockets at the Garden on Saturday the first day without Robinson, who has played in all 27 games. In 11 days, the Garden will have a few fans back – almost 2,000 per game from February 23 against the Warriors.
Earlier in the day, Randle talked about rocking the Garden again.
“Having fans at the garden again – even for the amount – is incredible,” Randle said. “We are very excited to have our fan group to come to the game and experience the energy we feel.”
Rockets point guard John Wall, with his new team and new health, will visit a fanless garden on Saturday. The Rockets offered limited fans – and that’s strange even for Wall.
“The whole season is weird,” Wall said Thursday night. ‘It’s weird with COVID, which is tested every day, sometimes twice a day. Even the arenas with fans are different. You only see a few. Looks like you’re with a bad team that only has 2,000 fans and the rest are not there. ”
The Knicks remained relatively free of any COVID-19 issues other than Frank Ntilikina, who was not in the turn, and left the team during this road trip due to contact detection. Now they’re hit by a fluffy play that Robinson sidelines.
As Wall said, this is a new world. When I arrived at the Union Station in Washington on Friday with the Amtrak for my first season’s first road game, I stepped outside and the pandemic hit hard again. Usually the line for a taxi is no less than 20 minutes, but on Friday there was no one outside Union Station – just a stream of depressingly empty taxis waiting in a ghost town.
No fans were allowed in Washington on Friday night and there are no plans to change that. After Saturday’s game against the Rockets, there are three more garden competitions before the world’s most famous arena really reopens.
In 11 days, the sound of ticket scalpers will be music to the ears, but the Knicks will have to fight without starting their center.