Mitchell Robinson had a strong reaction to his Celtics debut

BOSTON — Mitchell Robinson didn’t mince words at Celtics practice Thursday morning, less than 48 hours after his lackluster Celtics debut.

In the Celtics’ 121-113 loss to the Detroit Pistons, Robinson tallied 4 points, 2 assists, 2 blocks, and 2 turnovers in 18 minutes. The normally prolific rebounder couldn’t make his impact on the glass, grabbing just 3 boards, only 1 of which came on the offensive end.

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“It’s obviously just my fault,” Robinson said. “I got to accept that, and obviously be better from here on out. It’s straightforward — my fault.”

Robinson pointed to his lack of defensive impact as one of the main issues with his performance.

“We didn’t keep our foot on the gas, and it starts with me,” he said. “I’m one of the best defensive bigs in this league, and I didn’t show it that night. I got to take ownership of that; I gotta be better.”

The 28-year-old did go down with a twisted ankle in the second quarter of Tuesday’s game, but returned shortly after. On Thursday, he said the ankle injury didn’t factor into his performance.

“You tweak an ankle, you’re going to feel it a little bit here and there, but shit happens,” Robinson said. “I just felt like I was playing like trash the whole time anyways. I mean, shit.”

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Robinson isn’t worried about putting points on the board. But his interior presence and rebounding got him a 3-year, $47 million contract, and he prioritizes those on any given night.

“Once I feel good about that after the game, for me, that’s when I know I did pretty good,” he said. “I really don’t care about stat lines, scoring; we got that over here already. It’s like — what can I do to help my team?”

Joe Mazzulla spoke with Robinson after the game

Mitchell Robinson said last week that Joe Mazzulla has been hard on him since he arrived in Boston.

“He’s getting on my ass a lot,” he said. “Which, you know, I need that. But he gets on my ass.”

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But after Robinson’s frustrating game, Mazzula reached out in an encouraging fashion.

“Joe’s a great guy,” Robinson said. “He talked me through a lot of things, especially that night. He sent me text messages and stuff…

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Publish date : 2026-10-22 16:06:00

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