Knicks’ Mitchell Robinson being out Sunday is more incentive for Cavs to attack rim

New York Knicks center Mitchell Robinson is reportedly out on Sunday due to a concussion, and that should be more incentive for the Cleveland Cavaliers to attack the rim.

The Cleveland Cavaliers should have a good chance to get to 4-5 in the 2019-20 season with them next having a road game at the New York Knicks on Sunday, who are a team that’s also rebuilding, but do not have a player the caliber of Cleveland big Kevin Love.

Love, along with Cleveland veteran big Tristan Thompson, are the two crucial bigs currently for the Cavaliers in their rotation.

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Both are off to a great start to this year and look at least pretty close to full strength, which is nice to see.

They combined to miss 99 games in 2018-19, mostly due to reported toe surgery (for Love) and a foot injury (for Thompson), but again, have looked really good to begin 2019-20.

Love leads the Cavs in scoring, rebounding and even assists with 18.5 points, 14.1 rebounds and 3.9 assists per game, as NBA.com demonstrates, and he’s clearly looked fantastic in most occasions as the focal point of Cleveland’s offense.

Additionally, Tristan Thompson has been terrific, as he’s currently second on Cleveland in scoring and rebounding with 17.4 points and 11.6 rebounds per contest, and is leading the team with 1.6 blocks per game.

Though it is early, of course, according to Basketball Reference, Thompson would be having career-highs in scoring, rebounding, assists (2.8 per game currently) and blocks per outing at this pace.

Anyhow, even going into the Cleveland Cavaliers’ next game at the New York Knicks on Sunday, where Cleveland would have a very good chance to win, I’d expect Thompson and Love to have even more of an impact, and for Cleveland to have even more of an incentive to attack the rim with Knicks rim protector Mitchell Robinson reportedly out due to a concussion, per the Knicks PR Twitter.

Granted, even with Robinson in the rotation, the Cavaliers wouldn’t have a problem scoring and getting the ball moving pretty well. The Knicks are similar to the Cavs in that they don’t have much to right home about in terms of overall defense, as currently just eight teams have a worse defensive rating, according to NBA.com.

That being said, they do have an outstanding young perimeter defender in guard Frank Ntilikina, who could give Cleveland rookie guard Darius Garland and other drivers, such as guard Collin Sexton, problems with Ntilikina’s length and quickness.

Going back to Robinson being reportedly out, though, the Cleveland Cavaliers should have more incentive to attack the rim. Robinson, who only played 20.6 minutes per game and appeared in only 66 games as a rookie last year, was fourth in total blocks last season in the NBA, according to Basketball Reference.

Robinson is currently leading the Knicks in blocks per game this season, too, with 1.9 per contest.

With the 7-footer in the paint, who is also capable of switching out with his length in pick-and-roll on occasion, it’d deter the Cavs’ drivers somewhat, and though ball and man movement by the Cavs would likely create open looks often, it’d make them mostly perimeter shooters in Robinson’s minutes on the floor.

Now, as ClutchPoints’ Chris Guest highlighted, Robinson is definitely prone to big-time foul trouble, and the young big does need to be more disciplined in that regard going forward.

Of course, I get that Robinson has only played 17.6 minutes per game thus far, but again, his presence when he’s in there still could’ve had a big impact.

Again, with the lack of Robinson, players on the Cleveland Cavaliers such as Garland, Sexton, guard Jordan Clarkson and wings Cedi Osman and Kevin Porter Jr. should be more effective as drivers with Robinson’s rim protecting out of the Knicks’ rotation on Sunday.

New York has conceded the seventh-fewest paint points per game this season, as is noted by NBA.com, and Robinson and his 7-foot-4 wingspan are some reason for that (and Ntilikina, a heady defender, is a key part of that, too). The Knicks giving up plenty of open looks from the perimeter shouldn’t be undersold, either, however.

Anyway, I’d also imagine that Love, in terms of low post play, and Thompson, especially as a rolling lob threat and offensive rebounder, should be even bigger contributors for the Cavaliers and head coach John Beilein at the 2-7 Knicks, too.

While New York forwards Bobby Portis and Julius Randle likely will have some success offensively, Love, Thompson and I’d think Larry Nance Jr. to some extent should have their way offensively with Portis and/or Randle, and I’d think without rim protection for the Knicks, the Cavs should get what they want offensively and live in the paint more.

Cleveland had an impressive victory over the Washington Wizards on Friday, and that performance by Garland could really get him going moving forward, and New York not having the length and athleticism of Robinson could bode well in more occasions for Garland, who should be able to get the ball swinging well, anyway.

I would’ve picked the Cleveland Cavaliers to win over the Knicks Sunday anyway, but no Robinson in there in a solid chunk of minutes (who is also a constant rolling and putback threat, as Guest noted), and the lane should be more open, and I believe the Cavs should have an even better shot now at moving to a very respectable 4-5 on the season.