Mitchell Robinson explains his mysterious playoff injury

Former New York Knicks center Mitchell Robinson finally offered a public explanation for the unexplained hand injury that he suffered during the NBA playoffs.

In a Facebook post on Sunday morning, Robinson revealed that his youngest brother had been involved in a car accident before the start of the NBA Finals. At one point, Robinson feared his brother was dead, and he responded by slamming his hand against his truck.

“I broke down in tears, feeling like a failure for not being able to protect my siblings,” Robinson wrote. “Being 910 miles away, I felt helpless. In a moment of frustration, I banged my hand on my truck.”

Robinson suffered a broken finger in the incident, which put his Finals availability in doubt. He was ultimately able to play through the injury and was a key contributor to the Knicks’ title run. At the time, however, the cause of the injury was kept private, with the Knicks only willing to say it had not been suffered during practice.

Robinson wound up leaving the Knicks for the Boston Celtics in free agency, and seemed to suggest that contract talks between the two sides had gone particularly poorly.