With 2:39 remaining in Saturday's third quarter, the Madison Square Garden scoreboard read, "Boston Celtics 92, New York Knicks 63." The Celtics had spent the entire afternoon building a lead so big that they couldn't possibly let it slip.
The 29-point gap between the two sides was a lot, but it wasn't enough to keep Celtics Head Coach Joe Mazzulla from instructing his team to intentionally foul Knicks center Mitchell Robinson. At this point in the game, Robinson was just one of six from the charity stripe. The big man's eternal struggle from the line has been exploited by Boston for this entire series, regardless of the score.
Nonetheless, Robinson sank both attempts and put a little jolt into the defeated New York crowd.
So, what did Mazzulla do?
He made Robinson try again. The second trip to the line was far less kind to big Mitch. He missed both tries and Knicks fans were NOT happy.
"Oh wow, they were upset at the professional basketball player on their team with a 52.2% career free-throw percentage?"
No. Believe it or not, they were upset with Mazzulla and the Celtics because they were doing the "Hack-a-Mitch" strategy with such a large lead.
Stand-up comedian and celebrity Knicks fan, Sam Morril took to Twitter/X to voice his frustrations, writing, "Hacking Mitchell Robinson up 29. The Celtics may be a great team, but they are a b---- a-- team."
The tactic didn't sit well with non-celebrity fans either, as many posted online and echoed the comic's Celtic gripe.
Celtics' 'Hack-a-Mitch' strategy is more of a compliment to Robinson
Now, this isn't the first time that a big man who can't make free throws has been repeatedly intentionally fouled. Shaquille O'Neal, Andre Drummond, and many others have been forced to try and make the shot that many great players take to warm up.
Game 3 was also not the first time that the Celtics have done this to Robinson. They actually got so attached to the strategy that it may have hurt them in Game 2. Boston made an emphasis to get themselves in the penalty in the fourth quarter of Wednesday's loss in order to force New York to take Robinson off of the floor.
"He was a plus 19," Mazzulla explained to reporters postgame. "The rest of their starters were negative."
Robinson has been extremely impactful on the glass and has been able to keep the Knicks afloat when they've found themselves trailing the Celtics.
Of course Mazzulla is going to try and exploit his massive weakness.
The big man has made just 7 of his 23 free throws through these opening three games, putting his percentage at a crisp 30.4%.
I mean, he's been so bad that Knicks fans at Madison Square Garden stood up to cheer him on in hopes of encouraging him as he went to the line. It was actually a pretty cool move by them.
Cool, yes. Helpful, sort of.
Robinson still only made one of two at the line, and also got this patronizing social media post from ESPN.
If you've got the "Worldwide Leader" tweeting, "Bigger than Basketball" because an entire 20,000-seat arena thinks you need their help making free throws, it may be time to get some extra shots up.