His patience with Robinson at an all-time low, D’Antoni took a drastic step to teach him a lesson during the Knicks’ 118-104 loss to the Magic. Robinson recorded his first DNP of the season, and there is no guarantee that the veteran guard will see the floor tomorrow night against the Hawks in Atlanta.

“We want to win,” D’Antoni said after the Knicks fell to 4-15 after beating the Suns the previous night. “And if he’s conducive to winning then he’ll obviously be back in the lineup. If not he’s not.”

What made the benching all the more conspicuous is that three days earlier Robinson scored 22 fourth-quarter points against the Magic at the Garden. Orlando had no answer for Robinson…until D’Antoni gave the Magic one.

“It is a coach’s decision,” Robinson said. “He knows what he is doing. I’ve had plenty of DNP’s before in my career so it is nothing new.”

The benching was Robinson’s first since Dec. 17, 2007, when Isiah Thomas had had enough. D’Antoni, who according to sources was against the Knicks re-signing Robinson over the summer, has been critical of his behavior in recent weeks. Robinson drew the ire of his coach last month when he shot at the Nets’ basket as time expired in the first quarter.

On Tuesday, D’Antoni was upset when Robinson was called for an away-from-the-ball foul on the Suns’ Goran Dragic that was borderline dirty.

“We can go through the whole line. I don’t think I’m going to sit here and explain it. It’s just something…. We’re trying to build a winning group.”

Robinson’s coaches in New York – from Larry Brown to Thomas and now D’Antoni – have all wondered if Robinson sees himself as anything other than a circus act. He has won two slam dunk contests, and no teams offered him a contract when he became a free agent last summer.

“It could be a lot of things, who knows?” Robinson said when asked if he knows the reason when he was benched. “Only God knows.”