Retired two-time NBA All-Star center Roy Hibbert picked his former team Indiana Pacers and the Boston Celtics to advance to the Eastern Conference Finals in an interview with The Celtics Chronicle’s Adam Taylor.
The Pacers were an obvious choice for Hibbert because he became a legend in Indiana for his iconic block on former New York Knicks star Carmelo Anthony in the 2013 NBA Playoffs that propelled them to the Eastern Conference Finals.
Hibbert, however, gave his flowers to Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau for guiding a shorthanded Knicks team deep into the playoffs. But he also raised concerns about their short manpower which he believes would be their eventual downfall.
“I’m worried about the longevity of the Knicks with only playing seven players with [Tom Thibodeau], but he has those guys locked in,” Hibbert told Taylor.
After the Knicks took Game 1 via a 121-117 thriller, they lost another key player in center Mitchell Robinson.
Robinson is done for the season with a stress injury to his left ankle. The Knicks announced he will be re-evaluated in 6-8 weeks.
Robinson joins three-time All-Star forward Julius Randle (shoulder surgery) and Bojan Bogdanovic (foot surgery), a vital bench piece, in the sidelines for the Knicks, whose margin for error is becoming slimmer by the day.
“I look at the Pacers through the lens of the Celtics,” Hibbert said. “I think the Celtics would rather play [Pacers than Knicks in the Eastern Conference Finals] because of the fact that they like to get up and down the court and don’t really worry too much about defense.”
Mitchell Robinson Vows Revenge After Season-Ending Injury
Robinson re-aggravated his surgically repaired left ankle during the Knicks’ first-round win against the Philadelphia 76ers.
Robinson, who missed 50 games in the regular season with the ankle injury, was never the same again after Joel Embiid‘s dangerous flagrant foul on Robinson in Game 3.
After receiving the tough news on Tuesday, May 7, Robinson posted a series of an emotional posts on X, formerly Twitter, expressing his disappointment.
“This is so (expletive) up dawg,” Robinson tweeted. “Like I don’t even know what to say right now !”
Then he followed it up with a cryptic post about seeking revenge, which could either be pertaining to Embiid’s dangerous foul or bouncing back from this setback.
“This is not over over!” he tweeted on his private Twitter account. “I WILL SEEK REVENGE.”
Precious Achiuwa’s Time to Shine
Without Robinson, Thibodeau will likely lean on forgotten man Precious Achiuwa to fill in as Isaiah Hartenstein’s backup moving forward.
Achiuwa only saw action for four minutes in Game 1, scoring a free throw and pulling down one rebound. He also barely saw playing time in their first-round win against the Philadelphia 76ers, appearing in only two games.
But Achiuwa played solid in the regular season especially during Robinson’s lengthy absence while recovering from his ankle surgery. The 6-foot-8 Achiuwa averaged 8.4 points, 7.7 rebounds and 1.3 blocks in 26.1 minutes across 40 games without Robinson since the Knicks acquired him as part of the OG Anunoby trade.
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