Mitchell Robinson suited up and played 13 minutes in Game 1 of the NBA Finals on Wednesday night after surgery on a fractured fifth metacarpal in his right hand, helping the New York Knicks to a 105-95 victory over the San Antonio Spurs.
Robinson finished the game with two points on 1-of-2 shooting and six rebounds, a small but tangible contribution in a win keyed by Jalen Brunson’s 30 points. The center’s minutes were part of coach Mike Brown’s plan to slow Spurs rookie Victor Wembanyama, who shot 6-of-21 in the game.
The appearance followed a surgery for a broken bone in Robinson’s right hand that had threatened his participation in the Finals. He averaged 14.1 minutes per game during the playoffs but took a modest workload in Game 1, entering the rotation with his hand wrapped and limited floor time compared with some earlier postseason outings.
The injury’s timeline is incomplete. Robinson was seen shaking and grabbing his right hand during the third quarter of the Knicks’ Game 4 win over the Cleveland Cavaliers in the Eastern Conference Finals, and reporter Shams Charania said the damage may have occurred during that quarter. What is clear is that the fracture required surgery and, nonetheless, did not keep Robinson from dressing for the opening game of the series.
Robinson declined to discuss how he suffered the injury and kept his comments focused on the court. After the win he said he was not going to miss the chance to play after waiting eight years to reach the NBA Finals, adding, "I'm here to talk about basketball." That restraint left a practical tension: the team gained a defensive piece against Wembanyama, but the limited minutes and the fact Robinson had surgery days earlier raised questions about how long he could sustain that role if the series lengthens.
The most consequential unanswered question now is how exactly Robinson fractured his right hand and whether the underlying circumstances will affect his availability in Game 2. The Knicks head into the next game with a small but meaningful boost from his return; whether that boost can be repeated depends on details Robinson has declined to provide and on how his hand responds under the rigors of a Finals series.
