Robinson subbed in for Towns with 7:43 left in the fourth quarter, with the Knicks trailing by 13. <\/p>\n
Towns didn\u2019t check back in for Robinson until 3:07 left, with the Knicks up by two.\u00a0<\/p>\n
![\"Mitchell](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/122425Knicks113CW.jpg\")
Mitchell Robinson passes the ball to New York Knicks guard Tyler Kolek during the fourth quarter. Charles Wenzelberg \/ New York Post<\/p>\n
\u201cEverybody understands what our standard is \u2014 it\u2019s about sacrifice,\u201d Brown said. \u201cKAT sat most of the fourth, but he was still into the game. You could tell, because he had the biggest offensive rebound during the game. He was into it mentally, understanding that, \u2018Hey, Mitch is out there balling. I\u2019m gonna sit here and cheer my teammates on. When my number is called, I\u2019m gonna be ready to go.\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s about connectivity. Our group is extremely, extremely connected. It\u2019s about a competitive spirit.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
When Towns reentered the game, his key putback layup gave the Knicks a four-point lead with 27.3 seconds left. <\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\tWhat\u2019s happening on and off the Garden court\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSign up for Inside the Knicks by Stefan Bondy, a weekly exclusive on Sports+.\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\tThank you\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
But he had largely been ineffective before that, finishing with just 11 points on 5-for-13 shooting from the field, missing both 3s he took.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Robinson\u2019s offensive rebounding ability, meanwhile, was crucial to the Knicks comeback. <\/p>\n
He grabbed four in the fourth quarter and finished with eight in the game. Those four fourth-quarter offensive rebounds resulted in three 3-pointers from the Knicks (two from Tyler Kolek, one from Jalen Brunson) \u2014 an extra nine points on the scoreboard.\u00a0<\/p>\n
![\"New](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/122425Knicks39CW.jpg\")
New York Knicks center Karl-Anthony Towns drives down the court as Cleveland Cavaliers center Evan Mobley defends during the second quarter on Dec. 25, 2025. Charles Wenzelberg \/ New York Post<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen the game\u2019s getting tight like that and you need a little energy, you gotta go crash the glass and get offensive rebounds the best way you can,\u201d Robinson said. \u201cHelp the team win.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Robinson\u2019s ability to affect the offense without scoring is almost unparalleled across the league. He did not score Thursday, but the season-high 17-point comeback by the Knicks does not happen without him.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWith all the guys, you see them from afar, you think certain things about them,\u201d Brown said. \u201cYou think, \u2018He\u2019s this type of player, that type of player, he has this type of attitude and personality,\u2019 and then when you get around them and you actually see how effective he is in certain areas, you think, \u2018No way he should be that effective.\u2019 It\u2019s like, \u2018Wow.\u2019 You can\u2019t teach that.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Karl-Anthony Towns was on the bench when the Knicks changed the course of the game.\u00a0 He sat for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":81223,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[1266,1557,21,9,11,1104,10,319],"class_list":{"0":"post-81222","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-cleveland-cavaliers","9":"tag-mitchell-robinson","10":"tag-nba","11":"tag-new-york","12":"tag-new-york-headlines","13":"tag-new-york-knicks","14":"tag-new-york-news","15":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81222","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=81222"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81222\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/81223"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=81222"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=81222"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=81222"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}