Make that two key centers that didn’t play in Game 2 of the Knicks-Sixers second-round series.
Hours after 76ers star Joel Embiid (ankle) was ruled out of Wednesday’s Game 2, the Knicks listed Mitchell Robinson as out due to illness.
The Knicks entered Wednesday with a clean injury report, but the big got downgraded to questionable less than two hours before tip-off.
“I don’t know. I know he’s sick and that will be up to our performance group, the doctors and then him at the end of the day,” Knicks head coach Mike Brown said pregame before the team ruled Robinson out. “But I know just as much as you do.”
Robinson’s absence left the Knicks without his rebounding dominance and rim protection off the bench.
Wednesday’s DNP is his first missed game of the 2026 postseason.
Robinson logged two points, four rebounds and one assist in 12 minutes in Monday’s Game 1.
He’s averaging 6.2 points, 5.3 rebounds and 1.0 block in the 2026 postseason.
Luckily for the Knicks, Embiid’s absence coincided with Robinson’s DNP.
Sixers head coach Nick Nurse said his MVP big man woke up with “a bunch of soreness” before being ruled out during shootaround.
Andre Drummond started in place of Embiid in Game 2.