A return to Salt Lake City brought out the best in Jordan Clarkson. The Knicks reserve guard scored a season-high 27 points against the Jazz, his former team, in a 134-117 win on Wednesday.
He played 26 minutes, the most court time he’s seen since Christmas Day. He had only played a total of 20 minutes in his three other March appearances.
“For him to go out and perform the way he did, you couldn’t ask for anything better,” coach Mike Brown said, per Stefan Bondy of the New York Post. “And it goes to show he’s not just keeping his body right but his mind is in a good spot to go after coming in when you’re down [18 points] in the first half. So just to see that, you couldn’t ask for anything better. Especially from him, who is a veteran who hasn’t been playing or in the rotation and all of a sudden we need him.”
Clarkson will be an unrestricted free agent after the season.
Here’s more on the Knicks:
- A halftime challenge helped perk up a team that had lost its previous two games. The Knicks outscored Utah 78-52 in the second half. The coaches and players both spoke up during the break, Bondy writes. “It was our halftime speech, in terms of how we came at each other, where we tried to hold each other accountable,” Clarkson said. “And then just came out here and wanted to win.”
- Slow starts have been a major problem since the All-Star break. In the last 11 first quarters prior to Wednesday, their usual starting five had a net rating of minus-15.3. Landry Shamet replaced an injured Josh Hart at Utah but the results didn’t improve. Jared Schwartz of the New York Post argues that making changes in the lineup of Jalen Brunson, Hart, Mikal Bridges, OG Anunoby and Karl-Anthony Towns probably won’t make much of a difference. Inserting Mitchell Robinson wouldn’t make much sense, either, considering his load management plan.
- ESPN columnist Vince Goodwill breaks down five issues confronting the team prior to the playoffs. Getting the most out of Towns and getting Brunson back in form are two of the biggest items on the list.
Na Knicks lose this game if they don’t sit KG and other players. Knicks have problems and the NBA has a bigger problem. The talent pool is not that great and teams keep messing with line ups to get around it
“ Slow starts have been a major problem since the All-Star break. In the last 11 first quarters prior to Wednesday, their usual starting five had a net rating of minus-15.3.”
This is a team issue. And without Thibs there is no true leadership here. Jalen is more of a leader by his actions guy. This coach is like his Center and SG. Soft.
They better wake up. Looks like they are resting for playoffs. Unfortunately they aren’t that good.
Imagine you need a F N team meeting about beating the Jazz ..😳😳🫣
Bring back Oakley.