Rich: How Mitchell Robinson's Broken Finger Impacts the Knicks’ NBA Title Chances

For about 24 hours, Knicks Nation had its heart in its throat. Word came that Mitchell Robinson broke his pinky, doing who knows what, with the team saying little, and Rich admitted the panic was real. The thought of battling Chet Holmgren and Isaiah Hartenstein with Karl-Anthony Towns forced to play 48 minutes was a nightmare scenario.

Then came the relief. Robinson is expected to play through it in a cast, and Rich could not have been more fired up. Bing bong, as he put it.

He found a silver lining in the bigger picture, too. Whoever emerges from the West will be the Knicks' third playoff opponent, and that team will be arriving off a grueling seven-game series. That, Rich argued, only helps a New York team that has not lost in over a month. O'Shea Jackson Jr., pouring every ounce of Laker energy he could spare into the Knicks, had a more dramatic prescription for Robinson: pull a Ronnie Lott. This is the Finals.

The conversation captured just how charged the city is. Rich, passing through JFK around his 11th Emmy loss, said everyone he met, from TSA to fellow passengers, was fired up and asking if the Knicks could pull it off. He warned that if they do win, with his own trip to New York coming in mid-June, the celebration could still be raging in the streets. Spike Lee, for his part, said it had better happen on the road, while TJ insisted the city erupts either way.

Rich is holding his full breakdown until the matchup is set, but he could not wait for game seven, hoping for something competitive like game one. His one gripe was the officiating. In San Antonio, he noted, the message is that no one is falling for the flops, while in Oklahoma City a whistle blows the moment you breathe on somebody. He went back and forth on giving the well-coached, talented Thunder their flowers, but came down where he has all along: the Knicks are deep and talented enough to beat either team, even Oklahoma City with home court. It might even set up a rematch of 1999, the last time New York reached the Finals.