{"id":2022007,"date":"2026-07-01T20:45:14","date_gmt":"2026-07-01T17:45:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2022007"},"modified":"2026-07-01T20:45:14","modified_gmt":"2026-07-01T17:45:14","slug":"mitchell-robinson-was-once-a-problem-for-the-celtics-now-hes-the-solution","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2022007","title":{"rendered":"Mitchell Robinson was once a problem for the Celtics. Now he\u2019s the solution"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

With the Boston Celtics fighting off elimination in the second round of the 2025 playoffs, coach Joe Mazzulla wasted no time calling for an intentional foul on Mitchell Robinson. As soon as the New York Knicks started their first offensive possession with Robinson on the floor, Torrey Craig headed straight for the center to grab him and send him to the free-throw line.<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

The Hack-a-Mitch strategy, which Mazzulla employed aggressively, was a way to prey upon Robinson\u2019s greatest weakness: foul shooting. It was also, in some ways, the ultimate sign of respect. Earlier in the series, Mazzulla had pointed out just how effective Robinson was for the Knicks. The Celtics weren\u2019t just hoping that Robinson would miss free throws; they were hoping to force him out of the game entirely.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you can (force him out), yeah,\u201d Mazzulla had said.<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
How the Celtics landed Mitchell Robinson<\/div>\n
Jay King and Jeshua Kidd<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
{“@context”:”https:\/\/schema.org”,”@type”:”VideoObject”,”@id”:”https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/athletic\/video\/UqxCQwSauBdVTVa\/”,”url”:”https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/athletic\/video\/UqxCQwSauBdVTVa\/”,”name”:”How the Celtics landed Mitchell Robinson”,”description”:”The Celtics make a big splash in free agency. Jay King breaks down what it means for the team. “,”uploadDate”:”2026-07-01T19:26:09.748Z”,”duration”:”PT1M11S”,”thumbnailUrl”:”https:\/\/cdn-media.theathletic.com\/video-stream\/auto-thumbnail\/UqxCQwSauBdVTVa\/nqDjbEDmFVR0.0000000.jpg”,”contentUrl”:”https:\/\/video.nyt.com\/athletic\/streams\/UqxCQwSauBdVTVa\/nqDjbEDmFVR0\/nqDjbEDmFVR0.m3u8″,”transcript”:”Mitchell Robinson, Mike Conley, the Celtics are making moves early in free agency at positions of need. Let’s start with Robinson, one of the best free agent centers on the market. He’s going to be a huge help for the Celtics. They needed someone to help them at the rim. They needed someone to give them more mobility on the perimeter than Lucas Garza. was capable of and then Nikola Vuccevich, who has signed with the Orlando Magic, was capable of his biggest strength, offensive rebounding, will only accentuate what they did greatly last season. His availability has been a concern, but one way that shouldn’t be as much of an issue is that Lucas Garza can soak up regular season minutes. As long as Mitchell Robinson is healthy for the playoffs, this will be a big win for the Celtics. Conley, he’s not the all-star type of player that he used to be, but he’s still a steady hand, and the Celtics needed someone behind Derrick White and Peyton Pritchard. By the end of last season, those guys were basically the only guards that they were willing to play. Got to give it to the Celtics. They did shore up a couple of their holes early in free agency. Their options were dwindling there, so getting Robinson was critical for them.”,”ineligibleRegion”:[“BI”,”BY”,”CD”,”CF”,”CU”,”IQ”,”IR”,”KP”,”LB”,”LY”,”ML”,”NI”,”RU”,”SD”,”SO”,”SS”,”SY”,”UA”,”VE”,”YE”,”ZW”],”publisher”:{“@type”:”NewsMediaOrganization”,”@id”:”https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/athletic\/#publisher”,”name”:”The Athletic”,”url”:”https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/athletic\/”,”foundingDate”:”2016-01-25″,”logo”:{“@type”:”ImageObject”,”@id”:”https:\/\/theathletic.com\/app\/themes\/athletic\/assets\/img\/the-athletic-wordmark-black.png”,”url”:”https:\/\/theathletic.com\/app\/themes\/athletic\/assets\/img\/the-athletic-wordmark-black.png”,”contentUrl”:”https:\/\/theathletic.com\/app\/themes\/athletic\/assets\/img\/the-athletic-wordmark-black.png”,”creditText”:”The Athletic”,”height”:”60″,”width”:”435″},”publishingPrinciples”:”https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/athletic\/edit-guidelines\/”,”sameAs”:”https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/The_Athletic”},”author”:[{“@type”:”Person”,”name”:”Jay King and Jeshua Kidd”}]}<\/p>\n
\n
\n