Hopeless;lsaiah hartenstein,agreed the trade of $340.7m and his leaving now………
Hartenstein’s father, Florian, mans the wheel, listening to a couple of goofballs, the Beavis and Butt-Head of the New York Knicks’ locker room, who have become best friends over the past two seasons.
They talk every day. If Hartenstein thinks he won’t be able to reach Robinson after the game, he calls from the training room before it. Over the summer, the Hartensteins went out of their way to attend Robinson’s baby shower, driving from Houston to Louisiana.
Florian in the front; Isaiah in the back.
Hartenstein was Robinson’s backup. But today, circumstances have changed. Ankle surgery could keep Robinson out for the rest of the season, which makes Hartenstein the Knicks’ full-time center, running for heavy minutes, protecting the rim and pulling down rebounds aplenty … all while Robinson cheers from his living room.
“I don’t feel like there’s stuff in the NBA like that, where at your same position you’re rooting for each other,” Hartenstein said. “But when we were playing, if you watch the bench, we were excited for each other. Not having that now, it’s kinda sad.”
Wednesday night’s catchup, if it wasn’t too late for Robinson after an 8:30 p.m. (ET) tipoff, must have been especially exciting.
The Knicks closed out their second consecutive victory, a 116-100 win over the Chicago Bulls. On the way, Hartenstein put up his best line ever: 10 points, a career-high 20 rebounds and a career-high-tying five blocks.
The performance followed up another that was arguably his best game of the season: A seven-point, nine-rebound, three-block, three-steal bombardment of the Minnesota Timberwolves, who entered Madison Square Garden at the top of the Western Conference and exited with a loss. All three of Hartenstein’s stuffs came against All-NBA center Rudy Gobert, who attempted to slam on the Knicks center but to no avail.
