Jordan Clarkson brings instant offense, but Knicks need more 'D' from everyone
Jordan Clarkson of the Knicks reacts after a three-point basket during the second half against the Miami Heat at Madison Square Garden on Friday. Credit: Jim McIsaac
MIAMI — When Jordan Clarkson signed on with the Knicks the priority might have been his ability to provide instant offense off the bench. And that he’s done. But in shifting from a Utah Jazz squad focused more on the NBA Draft than the playoffs to the Knicks, a team with championship aspirations, there is something more that he’s being asked.
“For me, I’m having to play defense a lot, so there you go,” Clarkson said with a smile. “But I’m locking in on that end as well and trying to do what I can on that end as well.”
With high expectations comes high demands, and not just for Clarkson.
For all of the talk about the offensive systems put in place by Mike Brown, the Knicks have lived just as much on their defense over the recent years of success. And with OG Anunoby sidelined for weeks with a strained left hamstring, the Knicks have lost their best and most versatile defender. That means everyone else has to step up.
It’s a part of the game that Clarkson is familiar with, having been to an NBA Finals early in his career. But the last three seasons in Utah have ended without a playoff appearance. Even now, just a month into the season, he’s seen the difference in the approach, what it takes to get to where the team believes it can go.
“It’s a level of focus,” Clarkson said. “I’m glad to be back in this and part of this and back contending. [Glad to] be in the playoffs and know that we’re playing for something. That changes a player’s mindset. It’s just a bunch of focus that goes into it and I’m locked in.”
“I think you’ve got to constantly preach that,” Brown said. “You see the way the league is now. Everyone is so good offensively and it’s impossible to slow anybody down. So you have to be on point defensively just to give yourself a chance because that ball is going to go in the hole every night. Not just him, you’ve got to constantly remind everybody else, including me and the rest of the coaching staff, because it’s very important to try to get it as best you can.”
The Knicks gave up 132 points to Miami Friday, have surrendered at least 120 points in all of the last three games and rank 19th in the NBA in defensive rating. And that was with Anunoby.
“I think it's just demanding from the coaches, too,” Mikal Bridges said of the focus on defense being more attuned with a winning organization. “You can be more demanding on a winning team than a losing team. And be focused on what you're trying to get towards. Usually on winning teams, you're dialed in even more, just knowing you're trying to go as far as you can.”
Brown said earlier this season that he thought the defense was ahead of the offense in picking up the new schemes. But there still have been glaring weaknesses. The Knicks rank 29th in the league in three-point defense, allowing teams to connect at a 39.3% rate.
Some of that is the result of a small sample size and you might expect the numbers to revert to the mean. But Bridges pointed out that the Knicks have let the wrong players shoot the threes. That is a schematic fix, but the real fix for the Knicks will come from finding a way to make up for what they’ve lost in Anunoby, who is just bigger, stronger and more imposing defensively than anyone else.
“He’s such a special defender,” Brown said of Anunoby. “His size, length, how strong he is, how athletic he is, just his instincts, you can’t replace that. It’s a big blow to us.
"Everything has to be done by committee. Same with Jalen [Brunson] being out offensively. We have to do it by committee. It’s not going to be one guy’s responsibility to get it done.
“Guys from top to bottom have to be a little bit more aggressive. Just like defensively, we’re going to have to be a little bit more aggressive guarding the ball. We’re going to have to have better shifts. We’re going to have make sure we get back in transition so our defense is set.”
Bridges agrees with his coach. “OG just impacts on both ends, but he's one of our leaders and especially on the defensive end and offense, too. I think it's just next guy step up and be there and help each other.”
Steve Popper covers the Knicks for Newsday. He has spent nearly three decades covering the Knicks and the NBA, along with just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.
