Knicks Mitchell Robinson comes up big in Game 5 defeat

It took some time for Mitchell Robinson to get back to being the force that Tom Thibodeau often has called the best offensive rebounder in the NBA.After missing the first four months of the regular season after surgery to repair an ankle injury suffered in last year’s playoffs, the former starting center dominated the offensive glass before the Pistons ultimately stayed alive by stealing a 106-103 victory from the Knicks in Game 5 of their first-round series at the Garden. “I thought Mitch gave us a good lift, good energy,” Thibodeau said.“The rebounding was good enough.

Defense was good enough.Our turnovers hurt us, so we gotta clean that up.” Robinson finished with 13 points and 11 rebounds in 22 minutes, including eight boards at the offensive end to create putbacks for himself and second-chance opportunities for the Knicks. Seven of his offensive boards came in the first two quarters, as the Knicks carried a 50-49 lead into halftime. Thibodeau again used Robinson for spurts alongside starting center Karl-Anthony Towns (17 points) in a two-big alignment. Robinson had averaged 3.3 offensive boards and 5.0 boards in 15.8 minutes per game off the bench over the first four games of the series. Robinson’s block of Pistons star Cade Cunningham in the first quarter got the Knicks going following a slow start, and he followed it shortly thereafter with  a tip-in at the other end to nudge the Knicks ahead. He also dunked in the second quarter following a miss by Miles McBride. Sports+ subscribers: Sign up for Inside the Knicks to get daily newsletter coverage and join Expert Take for insider texts about the series.Still, the 52 percent career foul shooter also missed 4-of-7 attempts from the free-throw line, making him just 3-for-11 from the stripe in the series entering Game 6 on Thursday in Detroit.  ...