Robinson Wasn’t Benched for Shooting at Wrong Basket
Knicks coach Mike D’Antoni said that he didn’t bench guard Nate Robinson for shooting at the wrong basket during the Knicks’ game with the Nets this weekend.
Robinson received an inbound pass with 0.5 seconds left in the first quarter, turned, and shot the ball towards his own basket. The shot went in, but Robinson had shot it after the buzzer went off, meaning that the Nets would not be credited with the three points.
“When you’re 2-9, which we were at the time, I think any distractions are bad,” D’Antoni said Sunday. “If our whole focus is not on trying to win and turn this thing around, then it’s not right and it’s not something we want to do, and it’s just one incident and we’ll go on and we’ll see what happens today.”
Robinson did not re-enter the game after making the near-folly, with D’Antoni leaning on the rest of his backcourt to anchor them against the winless Nets. He only played six minutes all game.
D’Antoni has reportedly been miffed by Robinson’s perceived immaturity this season. Robinson joked and Tweeted about being pulled over at a traffic stop earlier this summer, which frustrated the organization, but D’Antoni said that he and Robinson were still “cool” after Saturday.
“That’s something that Nate will work on and we talked about it and keep talking about it, but that doesn’t affect his playing time,” D’Antoni said.
