Josh Hart smiled, then broke a rule he’s been trying to set for himself.
How does he describe the Jordan Clarkson experience?
“I don’t really curse anymore, but f–king amazing,” Hart said after the Knicks’ 119-102 win over the Wizards on Monday night at Madison Square Garden. “I love JC, dog. JC is a professional scorer, man. So we want him to go out there and shoot the ball, and want him to be aggressive, want him playing his game. And when he does that, he’s amazing for us. Defensively, he’s been locked in. He’s been playing great defense on the ball, in his shifts, in help, stuff like that. Like I said, I love it.”
The Knicks signed Clarkson in free agency to be a central part of a revamped bench unit they envisioned going from a weakness to a newfound strength.
He has long been known as a spark plug and microwave scorer who will not hesitate to look for his shot — something the Knicks did not have much of off the bench last year. He is a particularly aggressive 3-point shooter, something coach Mike Brown values highly in his system.
It was a rough start to the year for Clarkson, but he seemed to grow comfortable in his new surroundings during the back-to-back home wins over the Bulls and Wizards. He scored 15 points both nights on a combined 11-for-19 shooting from the field and 5-for-11 shooting from 3-point range.
Given how shot happy he is, there will surely be occasional ugly showings. But the Knicks are banking on those past two games being more of the norm, and something they can rely on. Already, it’s become infectious for his teammates — and the MSG crowd.
“It feels great,” Clarkson said. “The fans, the atmosphere, just playing here, feeling that love here, it’s been amazing. Just want to keep continuing to buy into the system, make shots when I’m open, play defense, rebound and keep continuing to play a role.”
Brown pointed to himself and his rotations for why Clarkson struggled during the first few games of the season. The last two games, Brown said, he did a better job of having Clarkson and others know when they were going to play and with whom on the court.
As Brown gets more and more used to his roster, he hopes that should only keep improving.
“That’s definitely something that helps the guys,” Clarkson said. “Guys being in and out the lineup; Josh, Mitch [Robinson] being in and out, those minutes being played here and there. You’ve got so many different combinations. We’re just trying to get comfortable with playing alongside each other and finding our spots and doing what we do defensively. But I think we’re all buying in and trying to figure this thing out.”
For the first time this year, the Knicks have a clean injury report.
But one of the league’s premier scorers might be returning to face them.
Timberwolves superstar Anthony Edwards (right hamstring strain) was upgraded to questionable for the team’s game against the Knicks Wednesday night at Madison Square Garden. Edwards missed Minnesota’s past four games with the injury.
He was originally expected to miss about two weeks. Wednesday’s game is only about a week since he sustained the injury.
Those four games he missed are already the most he’s been out since the 2021-22 season.
For their own part, the Knicks will have Robinson and Hart available. Robinson missed the team’s first four games for what the team called left ankle injury management and also did not play the second leg of their back-to-back in a win over the Wizards at home on Monday. That he is not on the injury report at all is an encouraging step forward.
Hart has battled through multiple injuries this year. He missed the first game of the year due to lower back spasms and was on the injury report earlier this week with a left ankle sprain.
And on Sunday, he revealed that he is dealing with nerve damage in his shooting hand.
