WASHINGTON — After the Knicks routed the Nets on Thursday, Brooklyn coach Kenny Atkinson gave center Mitchell Robinson high praise.
The Nets shot just 26 percent and credited Robinson for part of it.
“Mitchell Robinson’s rim defense, we shot 29 percent at the rim,’’ Atkinson said. “We were going at him, and we just couldn’t finish on him.”
There’s been a subtle change in Robinson’s defensive posture since he took the NBA by storm last season as a rookie with his shot-blocking heroics.
Robinson is adhering more to a new philosophy in which former coach David Fizdale put forth about becoming a better rim protector, not necessarily a more productive shot blocker.