Jordan Clarkson’s microwave scoring ability allows him to make immediate impact on the floor.
The Knicks needed every bit of it in the 126-124 win over the Cavaliers on Thursday afternoon at Madison Square Garden.
Clarkson scored a season-high 25 points on 9-for-17 shooting from the field and 5-for-10 from 3-point range.
The Knicks outscored the Cavaliers by 13 points when he was on the floor.
After the Knicks came out “stuck in the mud,” in the first quarter, as coach Mike Brown put it, they trailed by 15 going into the second quarter.
And Clarkson promptly scored 11 points in the period, part of a huge 24-3 run that brought the Knicks right back into the game and gave them a six-point lead.
At one point, Clarkson drilled a 3, stole the ball from Donovan Mitchell, dribbled down the other end of the floor and nailed another 3 in transition.
“The times we were dead in the water, especially early in the game, he was the one guy that was keeping us in it,” Brown said. “First with his offense, he was really, really good for us offensively. And then defensively, he was good too.”
And then later, he was on the floor for most of the fourth quarter when the Knicks overcame a 17-point deficit. Seven more of Clarkson’s points came in that fourth quarter.
He was part of a bench unit — along with Tyler Kolek and Mitchell Robinson — that helped change the course of the game.
“Everybody believes in each other, no matter who is out on the floor,” Brown said. “You feel that type of belief from your teammates, from your peers. Man, the sky is the limit, because guys in the NBA are talented.”
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
