Nate Bringing the Heat on D
 In addition to lighting it up on offense, Nate Robinson has been making his mark on defense as well this preseason.
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Nate Robinson can score in a handful of ways. He weaves his way through the giants of the league for layups and he can knock down the open 3-pointer. Occasionally, like he did in the closing seconds of last week’s game against the Nets, he’ll slam one home.
Not many have focused on Robinson’s play on the other end of the floor through his first four NBA seasons. But this year, it’s going to be difficult to overlook the Knicks’ 5-foot-9 guard on defense. He’s going to be everywhere.
At head coach Mike D’Antoni’s request, Robinson is constantly putting pressure on the opposing teams guards as they bring the ball up the court this season. Robinson will rarely get a steal or force a turnover with his one-man full-court press, but he does disrupt the opposition’s offensive flow.
“Just to harass them and just to get us in a mood of energy and being able to set the tone defensively,” D’Antoni says. “He has been doing that and we’ll continue to get him to continue to be able to. The more that we play the whole court offensively and defensively, where we run out or we’re breaking or picking up a little bit, if we’re the fastest team on the floor, which hopefully we are, I think that helps our chances.”
Nate has quietly been one of the Knicks’ best players on both ends through five exhibition games. Making his second straight start, Robinson scored a team-high 19 points in a 106-91 victory over Maccabi Tel Aviv on Sunday. He is averaging 12 points, 3.6 assists and 1.8 steals in the preseason.
Robinson, who mostly came off the bench during his first four seasons with the Knicks after starting three seasons at the University of Washington, might have earned a starting spot when the regular season opens in Miami on Oct. 28.
“That will be the debate that we’ll have in the next couple of weeks,” D’Antoni said. “I like him in both roles. We’re just really trying to really confine his game to all the positive stuff, and there’s a lot. I think he’s doing better and hopefully he’ll keep improving on that. But whether he starts or whether he does not start I think will depend a lot on the other guys, just combos and the best rotations.”
Robinson, who finished third in the Sixth Man of the Year voting last season, doesn’t care if he starts or comes off the bench. “I just love to play the game of basketball, that’s it,” he says. But either way, he is likely locked into D’Antoni’s eight- or nine-man rotation.
The only question that remains about Robinson starting alongside point guard Chris Duhon is his size, especially when he’s matched up against shooting guards. But D’Antoni doesn’t think that will be a problem.
“The good thing about it is we have so many versatile guys like Jared (Jeffries),” D’Antoni said. “Plus, Nate’s strong and you don’t really post him up. And he can get into people. I don’t notice he’s 5-9. His size does not hurt us. Duhon also can guard bigger guys so they can kind of play together without us being overmatched.”
D’Antoni will continue looking at Robinson and the rest of his roster when the Knicks host the Boston Celtics on Wednesday. The preseason will wrap up Wednesday when the Knicks travel to Newark to take on the Nets for the third time in three weeks.
