TORONTO — Finally, the Knicks face the defending champs.
The first Knicks-Thunder matchup of the season is Wednesday at MSG — more than five months into the campaign — and not ideal circumstances for Mike Brown’s squad.
The Knicks will be operating on a back-to-back after beating the Raptors 111-95 on Tuesday and flying from Toronto to New York.
It’s a big test — and a potential Finals preview — but both Brown and Josh Hart agreed it won’t serve as an indictment on where the Knicks stand, win or lose.
“Obviously each game you want to build and learn. And we know that some games are tougher than others in terms of travel, back-to-back, things like that. [Wednesday] is going to be tough, a back to back playing a great team,” Hart said. “But we’ve got to make sure we bring it, find where we can build off of and keep it moving. We let you guys [in the media] kind of argue and converse about the record and the teams.”
Added Brown, “If they beat us, at the end of the day, or if we beat them at the end of the day, what does it mean? But they do a lot of things at that end of the floor. From the standpoint of this is a really good defense, a really good offense, they got an MVP candidate (Shai Gilgeous-Alexander), they have two bigs (Isaiah Hartenstein and Chet Holmgren), they have two individual defenders. So how are we going to handle the stuff they do on both ends of the floor? If we get stuck here, or stuck there, it’s an opportunity to continue to grow.”
The Knicks were swept in two games by the Thunder last season. They face them again in Oklahoma City on March 29.
Brown played Mitchell Robinson on Tuesday in Toronto, prioritizing that victory over Wednesday versus the Thunder.
The coach explained why: “[The Raptors] are in our conference and all that stuff,” Brown said. “Oklahoma City is in the Western Conference.”
Robinson, who underwent multiple surgeries on his ankles, has not played in both sets of back-to-backs this season and is happy with that plan since it’s kept him healthy.
“I feel great. It’s awesome,” Robinson said. “This plan we’re on, we should just stick to it.”
***Robinson clutched his surgically repaired ankle and came up limping after fighting for a rebound in the first quarter Tuesday.
He left the game but returned and played in the second half. Robinson said there was no X-ray and didn’t seem concerned.
“I came in here, re-taped, sat my ass right here [in the locker room] and listened to coach and went right back out,” Robinson said.
Still, Robinson acknowledged the medical staff will likely take a closer look Wednesday, when Robinson will be on the inactive list because it’s a back-to-back.
“They’ll look at it probably [Wednesday],” he said. “But I’m straight.”
