The applause was thunderous when Mitchell Robinson was announced as a starter to the Garden crowd for the first time in this year’s playoffs.
With Karl-Anthony Towns scoring 24 points after coming into Thursday night’s game listed as questionable due to a knee contusion suffered late in Game 4 two nights earlier, Robinson also contributed a handful of key plays at both ends of the floor to help the Knicks keep their season alive with a 111-94 victory in Game 5 at MSG.
Robinson, who replaced Josh Hart in the starting lineup to play alongside Towns in the middle two games in Indiana, finished with six points, six rebounds, two blocked shots and one steal in 20 minutes.
Those defensive stats all occurred within a few Indiana possessions in the middle of the third quarter — a rejection of a Tyrese Haliburton drive, another block against Thomas Bryant and a steal off a bad pass by Andrew Nembhard that helped key a 10-0 run that led to a 72-52 lead.
Robinson also scooped up an offensive rebound for a put-back during that sequence.
Asked before the game about sticking with the same lineup for a third straight game, coach Tom Thibodeau replied, “It’s just matchups and what’s going on in the game. Sometimes it’s impacted by foul trouble as well.”
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To wit, Towns netted 13 points in the second quarter to register 17 and 10 boards by halftime, but KAT picked up his fourth foul with the Knicks up 72-52 with 6:24 left in the third.
Pacers coach Rick Carlisle attempted to take advantage by intentionally fouling Robinson with the Hack-a-Mitch strategy employed by the Pistons and the Celtics in the first two rounds.
Robinson has shot just 22-for-56 (39.3 percent) from the stripe in 17 postseason appearances this spring.
Robinson missed two free throws with 4:17 left in the quarter, and he was replaced by Precious Achiuwa due to Towns’ foul trouble.
Achiuwa chipped in a bucket in traffic during a 12-0 run that helped stretch the lead to 17 entering the final period.
Robinson has logged fewer minutes than Hart in each of the three games since the switch by a sizable average of 12 minutes.