Mitchell Robinson left Monday’s game with sore knee, joins Derrick Rose and Cam Reddish on injured list

The New York Knicks completed their road trip on Monday with a 129-119 victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder at Paycom Center. They have earned a well-deserved rest for the next few days until they come back to the Madison Square Garden for a Black Friday matchup against the Portland Trail Blazers.

It’s not all good news for the orange and blue family, though, as Derrick Rose and Cam Reddish got injured during the mostly positive 3-2 trip.

Mitchell Robinson seemed poised to walk the opposite path, and in fact he returned to the court against the Phoenix Suns on Sunday... only to go back on the shelf after just 13 minutes of play on Monday. Mitch left the game against OKC on the second game of a back-to-back after experiencing right-knee soreness. He was ruled out of the game in the fourth quarter.

Robinson had missed all games played after Nov. 4. Speaking after the match away at Phoenix having logged his first 17 minutes after coming back from healing his knee, Robinson said that he would “be all right” and that he just “gotta get back in shape, conditioning.” Those comments came after an outing in which Mitch finished with two points, four boards, and two swatted shots.

For someone so dominant in the paint, it was a rather bad night of basketball. Robinson shared some kinda-worrying comments about that middling outing trying to justify it by the presence of a brace on his knee.

“I know that [the brace] is there,” Robinson said. “My mind is constantly thinking about that instead of playing. So I think I [have to] figure out a way to just go with it.” For a professional basketball player with multiple years of experience, it’s rather surprising speaking about that accessory in such way. Robinson also said that “somewhat, like, it’s there. I know it’s there. Obviously, I don’t want to get hurt again,” when speaking about the impact the brace might be having on his game.

After Monday’s game, coach Tom Thibodeau also said that Robinson’s absence was down to “just a little soreness,” and that it was something “to be expected.”

“It’ll be a work in progress each day. [Tuesday] will be a good day for recovery and rehab. But he’s coming along.” We are still waiting for an update about Robinson’s knee and his status ahead of Friday’s game at home hosting Portland.

Derrick Rose didn’t play on Monday after suffering an injury (sore right toe) Sunday in Phoenix, opening the door to Miles McBride to play both a couple of days ago and yesterday logging 29 total minutes split between the two matches of this back-to-back set.

Cam Reddish has not played in the last two games either after suffering a groin injury, getting “day-to-day” labels in the past couple of games but not recovering in time to grace the court away from home.

Reddish should be back soon as he said that Friday’s injury “isn’t nearly as painful” as the one he suffered in 2019 while still playing college basketball for Duke. “I couldn’t walk when I tore it,” he said of that 2019 injury. “I’m all good now.”