New York Knicks center Mitchell Robinson plans to play in Game 1 of the NBA Finals while wearing a brace on his hand after undergoing surgery on his broken right pinkie finger, sources told ESPN’s Shams Charania on Friday.
Knicks coach Mike Brown told reporters Friday that Robinson had surgery on the finger. It was not clear exactly when Robinson was injured, though Brown said the center was not injured during Game 4 or in practice. The Knicks declined to give further details about the injury.
Video showed Robinson grabbing at his right hand and shaking it going down the court with 5:35 left in the third quarter Monday after coming down from attempting to rebound a missed shot by teammate Mikal Bridges. Robinson played off and on until 7:47 left in the fourth quarter as the Knicks completed their Eastern Conference finals sweep of the Cleveland Cavaliers.
The Knicks will open the Finals — their first since 1999 — on Wednesday against either the Oklahoma City Thunder or San Antonio Spurs, who play in Game 7 of the Western Conference finals Saturday.
Robinson is averaging 5.3 points, 5.5 rebounds and 0.6 blocks in 14.2 minutes per game in the playoffs, with his role off the bench and someone who can fill in if fellow big man Karl-Anthony Towns gets into foul trouble. On the offensive end, the 7-foot Robinson has been the subject of fouling from opponents because of his issues at the free throw line, where he is 13-for-43 (30.2%).
He averaged 5.7 points, 8.8 rebounds and 1.2 blocks in 19.6 minutes per game during the regular season.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.
