WASHINGTON – Knicks President Leon Rose paid a surprise visit to Washington on Friday night, taking only the second game on the road, a few feet from senior Vice President William Wesley.
Rose saw the Knicks win the battle against the wizards in a 109-91 wanderings, in an empty Capital One Arena, but losing the war.
Knicks center Mitchell Robinson, after a first half of 10 points and 14 rebounds, left the game in the third quarter for X-rays which showed that he fractured his right hand.
The Knicks, as they say, can’t get a break, losing their defensive center with pins for weeks. This is a team with no margins of error.
“It was probably the best first half of the year for him,” said Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau.
Robinson tried to block a shot, but collided with Julius Randle as he came down, his hand hitting Randle’s elbow. Robinson started to shake hands, but stayed in the game. He looked in danger when he missed two free throws – one that completely missed the rim.
“It’s very hard, it will definitely be hard without him,” Randle said.
The training staff showed Randle a movie with the play in the locker room after the game and talked to Robinson.
“He has a wonderful spirit,” Randle said. “It simply came to our notice then. He will be there with us everywhere. ”
Part of the Knicks’ relative success has been continuity and injury-free for key players. Now that has been shattered. They added Derrick Rose and easily adjusted to 14-point back-to-back games. Rose formed an electric tandem with the start of Immanuel Quickley as a backup and has already helped the game of beginner Obi Toppin.
Now they will try to continue with another favorite of Thibodeau, Taj Gibson, who was signed last month as insurance, taking over the weakness for Robinson. And this insurance may or may not work.
The Post learned that the Knicks were considering adding former 76ers shooting center Norvel Pelle (Robinson, a poor man) to the front field, but Thibodeau wanted Gibson. Pelle is now with the Nets.
Gibson played 12 minutes in the fourth quarter on Friday, when the Knicks managed to explode over the Wizards, who were playing without Bradley Beal. While Rose remained in the chair, she could have figured out what other centers might be there, with Nerlens Noel now the Knicks. Noel was a solid rim protector, but he also missed five games with a painful knee.
Thibodeau said he was in no hurry to add a big man. He suggested that the Knicks could also “go small,” with the obvious possibility of Randle moving to the center and Toppin getting more minutes as he continues to grow.
In the debut lottery battle with Israel’s Deni Avdija, Toppin was more effective, with eight points on 4-for-5 shootetting. Avdija also scored eight points, but was 1 on 5 with 3 points, despite showing his fluid shot. The Knicks passed on to Avdija, who looks set to be the next Danilo Gallinari, when they drafted Toppin.
With Toppin ready to grow, Thibodeau was careful not to provide an optimal scenario while the Knicks returned to New York to be evaluated by Robinson.
“I don’t want to speculate on anything,” Thibodeau said. “Once he returns to New York, we will consult them on documents and we will know exactly what the time period looks like. It will be an estimate. ”
The Knicks face the Rockets at the Garden on Saturday for 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 starting with February 23 against the Warriors.
Earlier in the day, Randle talked about getting the garden back.
“Having fans back in the garden – even at this amount – is amazing,” Randle said. “We are extremely excited to have our fans come to the game and experience the energy we felt.”
Missile ranger John Wall, along with his new team and new health, will visit a fanless garden on Saturday. Rockets has hosted limited fans – and that’s really weird for Wall.
“The whole season is weird,” Wall said Thursday night. “It’s weird with COVID, testing every day, sometimes twice a day. Even the arenas that have fans are different. See just a few. Looks like you’re with a bad team that only has 2,000 fans, and the rest aren’t there. ”
Knicks remained relatively free of any other COVID-19 issues, except for Frank Ntilikina, who was not in rotation, leaving the team during this road trip due to following contacts. Now, they’ve been hit by a random piece, removing Robinson.
As Wall said, it’s a new world. Arriving on Friday by Amtrak at Washington’s Union Station on Friday for the first road game of my season, I went outside and the pandemic struck again. Usually the line for a taxi is no less than 20 minutes, but on Friday there was no one outside the Union Station – just a depressingly empty cabin 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 more garden competitions remain before the doors of the most famous arena in the world really reopen.
In 11 days, the sound of ticket scalpers will be music to your ears, but the Knicks will have to fight without their starting center.