Knicker23
Benchwarmer
Terrible timing with this loss, but...
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/dailydime?page=dime-090228-0301
Sixth Man Award, Two Trimesters In
Nate Robinson, New York Knicks The most feared sixth man in the game and the likely winner of this award in the spring both reside in the Southwest Division. But both Manu Ginobili (shin) and Jason Terry (hand) are injured, too.
So we're adopting the same approach here that we used in the preceding MIP discussion, focusing more specifically on this chunk of 27 (or so) games so we can recognize little Nate's monster February.
The combination of Robinson's five 30-point games this month, including a 41-pointer against Indiana, along with the Knicks' pesky presence in the race for a playoff berth in the East make him the most legit choice for the season's middle third. And we say so even when the sixth-man field has no shortage of recognizable names -- Leandro Barbosa, Andrei Kirilenko, Corey Maggette and J.R. Smith -- and when it would be even deeper if not for the injuries in Lakerland and Milwaukee that have forced Lamar Odom and Charlie Villanueva back into starting jobs.
Yet you can't expect to see Robinson that high in April, provided that the two Texas supersubs are back reasonably soon. Ginobili ranks as one of the greatest game-changers off the bench in NBA history and will always be favored for this award. Terry, meanwhile, is having his best scoring season in a decade as a pro (19.9 ppg) coming off the bench for the Mavs. So the rim gets raised in a big way for Krypto-Nate when those two return.
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/dailydime?page=dime-090228-0301
