Look, there is no good time to break a pinky, but the week before the NBA Finals has to be near the bottom of the list. Mitch Robinson reportedly busting up a finger during the layoff has Stoolies doing what Stoolies do best: half-panicking, half-coping, and immediately reaching for the dumbest possible historical comp.
Hubbs voicing the exact frustration every Knicks fan felt when the news hit.
HOW??? The whole idea of the crazy time off was no one can get hurt
The whole point of the extended rest was supposed to be zero risk. No games, no contact, just film and shootarounds. And yet here we are, debating whether a non-shooting big can simply tape it up and hit the floor anyway. Hubbs talked himself into it within minutes, which is the most Knicks-fan rationalization arc imaginable.
The cope arrives right on schedule — Mitch doesn't shoot, so what's a pinky really do?
Anyway the fact that Mitch is a non shooting big means he can just tape it up and play through it?
Clem went a different route entirely, refusing to entertain any negativity and then doubling down with the comp that's going to live rent-free in this fanbase for the next 2 weeks. Rip Hamilton wore the mask for years and it became part of his identity. A braced-up Mitch chasing offensive boards in the Finals? Sign it up.
Clem coining the new nickname before Mitch has even been ruled in or out.
Brace Mitch Robinson about to become the new Mask Rip Hamilton
The bigger story underneath all of this is that the Knicks are actually in the Finals, which still feels weird to type out. That's why Clem dropped the Kevin Harlan tidbit — Mike Breen recounted Harlan offering to let him call last year's Eastern Conference Finals on TNT because the Knicks had finally broken through. It's the kind of broadcaster-brotherhood moment that hits a little harder when your team is the one cashing it in this year.
The Harlan-Breen story making the rounds as Knicks-in-the-Finals content finally gets to exist.
Kevin Harlan Is The Best Part 729,621: Mike Breen Said Harlan Offered To Let Him Call The Eastern Conference Finals On TNT Last Year Because Breen’s Knicks Finally Made It Back There https://t.co/NcO2t8VPn3
Hubbs, meanwhile, is already booking the content calendar around it, lining up a Celtics fan to come on and suffer through Knicks Finals talk in real time. Petty? Absolutely. Necessary? Also yes. If Mitch tapes the pinky and plays, this whole week is going to be insufferable in the best way.
Hubbs setting up the obligatory Celtics-fan-watches-Knicks-thrive segment.
Anytime you can have a Celtics fan on to talk about the Knicks in the Finals you gotta do it @TBob53
So that's the state of things: a broken pinky, a Rip Hamilton comp nobody asked for but everybody now needs, and a fanbase that has waited so long for this moment they're willing to medically optimize a 7-footer in public to get there. Tape it, brace it, glue it — whatever it takes.