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LOS ANGELES — Mohamed Diawara made a splash with his inaugural NBA dunk, creating a memorable moment that electrified the crowd. The rookie from the New York Knicks delivered a sensational play by slicing through the Los Angeles Clippers’ defense and executing a powerful one-handed slam over French compatriot Nic Batum.
This thrilling highlight occurred toward the end of the third quarter, briefly invigorating a Knicks-supporting audience at the Intuit Dome. However, despite the momentum shift, the Knicks were unable to overcome their struggles with turnovers and ultimately succumbed to a 126-118 defeat.
Reflecting on his impressive feat, Diawara shared with The Post, “I was just driving and dunked the ball, and fortunately, Batum was there. It was a good play. Funny to see that my first dunk—my first poster—was against him.” Growing up in France, Diawara had long been familiar with Batum’s reputation, adding an extra layer of significance to the moment.
Diawara’s emphatic dunk was a key component of an 11-3 run that closed out the third quarter. In his 18 minutes on the floor, he contributed five points, four rebounds, and two assists, marking a promising start to his NBA career.
Diawara’s jam was part of an 11-3 run to end the third quarter. He finished with five points in 18 minutes with four rebounds and two assists.
“(The dunk) felt good,” Diawara said. “It was about time. I was looking forward to doing it.”
With Jose Alvarado struggling, coach Mike Brown briefly gave Tyler Kolek a meaningful cameo in the fourth quarter.
Kolek has been basically out of the rotation since Alvarado was acquired in a trade. On Monday, Kolek went scoreless in just two minutes.
“I thought Jose was struggling a little bit. So I threw Tyler out there to see if we could get something from him, similar to me throwing Jordan Clarkson out there (in the previous game against the Lakers),” Brown said. “Tyler didn’t get a long time to play because we put Jalen out there to see if we could make a run. But I said this before, those guys have to keep themselves ready just in case their number is called. Because it can be called at any time.”
Brown knocked on wood while crediting the performance staff, including owner James Dolan’s son, Quentin, for keeping Mitchell Robinson healthy throughout this season.
“Casey (Smith, the VP of Sports Medicine), Chico (Goenega, the head athletic trainer), those guys, and Quentin Dolan, those guys have done a nice job of coming up with a plan,” Brown said. “And the biggest thing is to get him in games this year and making sure he stays healthy. And so our whole medical staff, starting with those three guys down to everybody that’s in our medical department. They’ve done a great job of keeping him healthy and keeping him in the game and practicing and stuff like that. So I applaud them more than anybody else for what they put together and how they’re executing it.”
Quentin Dolan holds the title of Senior VP, Player Performance and Science Leader.
Robinson, who has been injury prone throughout his career and underwent multiple surgeries on his ankle, again sat Monday versus the Clippers in the second game of a back-to-back. Robinson hasn’t played both games of a back-to-back all season.