The New York Knicks have a secret weapon on their side… country music.
The Knickerbockers currently hold a 2-0 series lead over the San Antonio Spurs in the NBA Finals, and part of that is thanks to Mitchell Robinson. If you don’t know the name, he has been busy holding down the center position for the Knicks since he was drafted by New York in 2018. He’s actually the longest tenured player on the Knicks team, which is now two games away from winning the NBA Finals for the first time since 1973.
Pretty crazy it’s been that long for the NBA franchise in the Big Apple, eh? They stole the first two games in San Antonio, and could now close out the Finals and hoist the Larry O’Brien trophy with back-to-back home game victories at Madison Square Garden. Needless to say, there’s a lot of buzz in NYC right now.
Robinson has been playing through a finger injury in the finals, and though that’s restricted his minutes a bit, he’s still been able to come through in huge moments. He only played two minutes in the fourth quarter of Game 2, but in those two minutes, he shut down Spurs star (and freak athlete) Victor Wembanyama. When Robinson was guarding him in the last minute of the game, the Spurs phenom missed two crucial shots.
Knicks head coach Mike Brown was asked why he thinks Robinson is able to stay so level headed out on the court, and his response gave all the credit to the type of music that the New York center likes to indulge in:
“I’m a huge fan of country music. So, I think when he listens to country music, he gets the chill vibes, because I know I do. I’m sure that’s where he got it from. I don’t know, it’s just how he’s built man… he just went and did his job, but that country music probably has something to do with it.”
Mitchell Robinson didn’t shy away from that being the truth.
A reporter followed up with the Knicks center after his head coach said country music gives Robinson his calm demeanor, and he agreed… and once again wished that his teammates would get on board with the genre:
“I love my country music. That’s all I listen to. Dealing with these guys, they don’t listen to it. So that’s why, you know, I got it my headphones now. Maybe if they listened to it, they’ll understand, but they’re silly.”
Why is it a big deal that an NBA player likes country music? I don’t know, but it is.
With Mitchell Robinson, it really isn’t a surprise. He actually moved to Nashville, Tennessee recently, where he has a farm and is able to focus on his health and diet during the offseason. Robinson has chickens, and apparently even grows his own vegetables. So not only is he a fan of the slow life that country music often waxes poetically about… he lives it.
Here’s a video he shared not too long ago of him waking up in “God’s country,” which a) included a Megan Moroney song and b) was definitely a reference to his Morgan Wallen fandom:
@mitchellrobinson_23Waking up to this every morning is a blessing 🫶🏽♬ Kansas Anymore – Megan Moroney
Man loves his country too:
Long story short, if the New York Knicks pull it off and win the NBA Championship… country music played a role in making that happen.
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.whiskeyriff.com ’
