WASHINGTON – Knicks President Leon Rose paid a surprise visit to Washington on Friday night, watching only his second street game, sitting on the court just meters from senior vice president William Wesley.
Rose saw her Knicks win the battle over the Wizards in a 109-91 rout in an empty Capital One Arena, but they lost the war.
Knicks pivot Mitchell Robinson, after a 10-point rebound and 14 rebounds in the first half, left the game in the third period to take x-rays showing that he had fractured his right hand.
The Knicks, as they say, have no rest, losing their defensive center for weeks. This is a team with no margin for error.
“It was probably his best first half of the year for him,” said Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau.
Robinson tried to block a shot, but collided with Julius Randle when he fell, his hand hitting Randle’s elbow. Robinson started to shake his hand, but remained in the game. He looked distressed when he missed two free throws badly – one that missed the ring entirely.
“It’s very difficult, it will definitely be difficult without him, ” said Randle.
The coaching staff showed a video of the move to Randle in the locker room after the game and he spoke to Robinson.
“He’s in a great mood,” said Randle. “Extremely positive. He will be with us every step of the way yet. “
Part of the Knicks’ relative success has been continuity and not suffering injury to key players. Now this has been broken. They added Derrick Rose and he acclimated easily with consecutive 14-point games. Rose formed an electric duo with rookie Immanuel Quickley as a defense and already helped in the game of rookie Obi Toppin.
Now they will try to continue with another Thibodeau favorite, Taj Gibson, who signed last month as insurance, taking the job for Robinson. And that insurance may or may not pay.
The Post learned that the Knicks considered adding former 76ers striker Norvel Pelle (a poor Robinson) to the frontcourt, but Thibodeau wanted Gibson. Pelle is now with the Nets.
Gibson played 12 minutes in the fourth quarter on Friday, while the Knicks mounted the turnaround on the Wizards, who were playing without Bradley Beal. While Rose remained seated, he could be calculating what other centers might be out there, with Nerlens Noel now the holder of the Knicks. Noel has been a solid rim protector, but he also missed five games with a knee pain.
Thibodeau said he is in no hurry to add a great man. He hinted that the Knicks could also “go small”, with the obvious possibility of Randle moving to the center and Toppin receiving more minutes as he continues to develop.
In his rookie battle in choosing the lottery with Israel’s Deni Avdija, Toppin was more efficient, with eight points out of 4 to 5 shots. Avdija also scored eight points, but scored 1 out of 5 out of 3 points, despite showing his fluid shot. The Knicks passed Avdija, who looks like they’ll be the next Danilo Gallinari, when they called Toppin.
With the role of Toppin ready to increase, Thibodeau was careful not to present the best scenario while the Knicks returned to New York for Robinson to be evaluated.
“I don’t want to speculate on any of this,” said Thibodeau. “As soon as he gets back to New York, we’ll have our doctors examine him and we’ll know exactly what the deadline is. It will be an estimate. ”
The Knicks face Rockets at the Garden on Saturday for the first day without Robinson, who has played in all 27 games. In 11 days, Garden will have some fans back – almost 2,000 per game starting on February 23 against the Warriors.
Earlier in the day, Randle talked about making Garden swing again.
“Having fans back at Garden – even in that amount – is incredible, ” said Randle. “We are extremely excited to have our fan base to come to the game and experience the energy we are feeling. ”
Rockets owner John Wall, with his new team and new health, will visit a fanless garden on Saturday. The Rockets have been receiving limited fans – and this is strange for Wall.
“The whole season is weird,” said Wall Thursday night. “It is strange with COVID, testing every day, sometimes twice a day. Even fan arenas are different. You only see a few. It seems that you have a bad team that has only 2,000 fans and the rest is not there. “
The Knicks were relatively free of any problems with the COVID-19 in addition to Frank Ntilikina, who was out of rotation, leaving the team during the trip due to contact tracking. Now they were hit by a casual move, leaving Robinson aside.
As Wall said, it is a new world. Arriving at Amtrak at Washington Union Station on Friday for the first road game of my season, I left and the pandemic hit again. Usually, the queue for a taxi does not last less than 20 minutes, but on Friday there was no one outside Union Station – just a depressing and empty stream of taxis waiting in a ghost town.
No fans were allowed in Washington on Friday night and nothing is planned to change that. After Saturday’s game against the Rockets, three other Garden competitions remain before the doors to the World’s Most Famous Arena actually reopen.
In 11 days, the sound of ticket changers will be music to the ears, but the Knicks will have to fight without the starting center.