BOSTON — Mitchell Robinson took a tough fall midway through the first half against the Pistons on Tuesday. He looked like he tweaked his left ankle, hobbling back to the Celtics bench to get looked at by trainers. By the end of the timeout, Robinson was fine and stayed in the game. So, early injury scare avoided.
“You tweak an ankle you’re going to feel a little bit here and there,” Robinson said ahead of Celtics practice Thursday. “But (expletive) happens. I just feel like I was playing fast.”
Robinson took ownership after a slow Celtics debut where he only racked up one offensive rebound. He didn’t play up to his standards, he said, finishing with four points, three rebounds and two blocks in 18 minutes. He prides himself on his defense and rebounding, but he wasn’t effective enough on both ends.
Now, Robinson gets another test: Facing his former team. The defending champion Knicks visit TD Garden at 7 p.m. Friday. It’s the first time Robinson will play New York since signing with the Celtics in free agency. With the Knicks being cost-conscious — looking at the Karl-Anthony Towns negotiations — they couldn’t afford to keep Robinson this summer. Robinson didn’t sound too emotional about the game, though.
“It don’t really matter that much,” Robinson said. “It’s more so just trying to bounce back from what happened two nights ago. At the end of the day, basketball is a business and we gotta play the teams like you play the other teams.”
Robinson experienced plenty of highs with the Knicks, including winning the 2026 NBA championship with them. He was in New York for eight years, so Robinson got to be part of the ascension to the mountaintop. He was a bench piece for the Knicks who brought plenty of physicality and offensive rebounding to the court.
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Now he’s looking to bring those exact traits to the Celtics. To be fair, the Pistons have a physical front-court themselves. Detroit did a good job limiting Boston’s centers on those offensive rebounding chances throughout the night. But Robinson stressed he’s just looking to bounce back after he thought it was a lackluster debut.
“He’s a very important piece to what we do,” C’s coach Joe Mazzulla said. “So the standard is a little bit higher and the expectation is a little bit higher. So I think it just comes with time understanding that every play, you’re at the nucleus of what we’re trying to accomplish on both ends of the floor.
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