The Knicks needed an enforcer. Mitchell Robinson is ‘standing on business’

“I wasn’t that bad, right?” he joked on his way out of the interview room.

No. Brown got up. And behind Robinson, so did the Knicks.

‘STANDING ON BUSINESS’

The Hawks can’t say they didn’t see it coming.

Robinson made it clear from the start: “standing on business” written on the tape above his ankles in Game 1 — “I forgot he did that,” said Karl-Anthony Towns — and a pregame Facebook post before Game 6, staring into a fire pit with the caption: “fire in my eyes.”

Brown credited Atlanta for forcing the Knicks to evolve. It also brought out the version of Robinson they’ll need moving forward — against teams with real size and worse intentions: Philadelphia’s Joel Embiid, Detroit’s Jalen Duren, OKC’s combo of Chet Holmgren and Isaiah Hartenstein, or San Antonio’s Victor Wembanyama.

“Mitch is a big part of our locker room. What he does on the court — obviously y’all know he impacts winning, and he does a lot of things that sometimes don’t end up on the stat sheet, but makes us come out with a W,” Towns said. “So, Mitch is very vital for our locker room, for our team, and we’re always gonna support him. We’re always gonna stand behind him when he wants to, I guess — quote-unquote — ‘stand on business.’”

If there was a vulnerability in this roster, it was toughness.

The Knicks have talent. They have size. They have expectations. But they could be rattled.

Robinson wasn’t going to allow it.

He knew Daniels would test that edge — living in that gray space between physical and reckless. He knew Atlanta’s path to competing in the series would be to disrupt, to push, to try to bully.

What he didn’t expect was the hip toss.

With under five minutes left in the second quarter, Daniels attempted to take Robinson to the floor during a box-out. Robinson saw red. No punches, but the two tangled, spilling toward the sideline as Okongwu tried to separate them. Benches cleared. Coaches and security rushed in.

Double technicals. Ejections. Fines. No suspensions, a sigh of relief for a franchise learning just how much it needs its enforcer to survive a deep playoff run.

Daniels was fined $25,000. Robinson, $50,000 — an extra $25K for an unsportsmanlike follow-up social media post.

“The playoffs are a lot more physical than regular season. Stuff happens, everybody’s human, and we just got to keep making sure that for us, we don’t do anything that costs us the rest of that game or the next game,” Brown said. “I applaud all our guys — our security guys, Rod [Williams], Charlie [Duffy], Tim [Rylko], and then our players.

“Because again, everybody’s human and sometimes things happen, and to get help from everybody else is huge. And then even our assistants — when I ran, turned and looked at the bench, I don’t know what Atlanta’s bench was, but I know our entire bench was on the sidelines. And that’s extremely important in that situation.”

DOUBLE-BIG LINEUP

The Hawks didn’t just force the Knicks to toughen up. They forced them to adjust.

New York outscored Atlanta by roughly 20 points per 100 possessions with Robinson on the floor — yet minutes were inconsistent. Brown leaned toward Towns-heavy lineups and was hesitant to fully trust the dual-big pairing.

That changed.

Brown played Robinson and Towns together for eight minutes across Games 5 and 6. The result: the Knicks outscored the Hawks by 60 points per 100 possessions in those minutes.

“It talks to Mitch’s versatility. To be able to have the double-big lineup out there and impact winning with it speaks to Mitch,” Towns said. “And it also speaks to our guys in this locker room that are adjusting with us when we have that lineup and doing it in such a quick fashion — something we haven’t done all year, and we got to see it in the last couple games, and it’s been very effective.”

Brown again pointed to Atlanta.

“They helped us get better. We had to continue trying to think of different ways to help put our players in the best possible position to win, and part of that is how can we try to throw the double-big out there — because both Mitch and KAT are starters on any team out there,” he said. “And it’s — how can you try to get those guys on the floor? Because it makes us unique with the size. How can we get them out on the floor together?

“And as the series went along, we started to figure it out — and based on your opponent, it may change, I don’t know. But we do feel like Atlanta helped us get better, and we’re in a better spot now because of them.”

The Knicks are in a better spot.

Brown has his glasses — and now, a backup pair.

The Knicks have their enforcer.

And Robinson?

He’s $50,000 lighter. No suspension. Fire in his eyes. Standing on business.

With a team ready to stand behind him.