Jordan Clarkson calls it magic. Maybe he practiced holistic healing in a past life. But for a second time this season, he has cured an OG Anunoby ailment in-game.
“It’s just making sure my guy is right,” Clarkson told the Daily News. “We need OG out there so whatever’s whatever, and we’re gonna make it happen.”
Anunoby tweaked his ankle in the second quarter of the Knicks’ 113-102 Game 1 victory over the Atlanta Hawks on Saturday. After checking himself out of the game and limping to the bench, he took a seat next to Clarkson, who immediately got to work.
Weeks earlier, with 1:04 left in the second quarter of an April 1 victory over the Memphis Grizzlies, Anunoby hurt his wrist on a defensive possession and checked out of the game shortly after. After Knicks head athletic trainer Anthony Goenaga took a look at his hand, Clarkson sprinkled an imaginary substance onto his wrist. Shortly after, Anunoby rose to his feet, re-entered the game, and finished with 25 points and 13 rebounds, 18 points coming after Clarkson’s healing.
“Jordan healed my wrist,” Anunoby said with a smile in the locker room after the game.
And then came Saturday — and you could hear a pin drop at Madison Square Garden when Anunoby, the Knicks’ most important defensive player, turned his ankle, a moment met with deafening silence from a Knicks fan base fully understanding the gravity of the moment. Anunoby grabbed at his ankle then limped off the court to the bench and sat next to Clarkson.
“He came over to the bench and asked me to do it for his ankle. I sat over there,” Clarkson told The News. “He checked back into the game. We need him on the floor, so whatever I gotta do to keep it going.”
“Sprinkled a little spice on him, man. Just a little magic, man,” he told The News. “Made sure he was good for the second half.
“Come back here, sprinkle a little magic on them before I go out there.”
Anunoby returned to the floor like nothing happened, played a team-high 38 minutes, and finished with 18 points on six-of-nine shooting from the field. He led all starters in plus-minus (plus-nine) and, per head coach Mike Brown, was a full participant in practice at the team’s Tarrytown training facility on Sunday.
Clarkson, too, played a strong game and put up eight points and two offensive rebounds in 11 minutes on the floor. He also got an assist that won’t show on the stat sheet. He’s now helped the Knicks’ defensive stopper back onto the court, this time when the team needs him most.
Clarkson and Miles McBride were part of a bench unit helping the Knicks pull away from the Hawks in Game 1. McBride was plus-12 in 21 minutes on the floor and finished with six points on two-of-four shooting from 3-point range. Clarkson was plus-nine in his 11 minutes on the floor.
“[They were] unbelievable. And they came in and made plays on both sides of the ball,” team captain Jalen Brunson said after practice on Sunday. “They made big shots, and they made plays that had a lot of attention to detail that may get overlooked, but they were focused and they got it done.”
McBride’s resurgence has been notable given his recent return from core muscle surgery to repair a sports hernia. An injury he described as being repeatedly stabbed in the groin and core area derailed a strong early campaign for McBride, who was averaging close to 13 points on 42% 3-point shooting before exiting the rotation.
“Deuce” averaged just 6.7 points in the six games he played after returning from injury after spending two months rehabbing from his surgery. And Clarkson, too, has been in and out of the rotation, a mainstay during the Knicks’ ride to the NBA Cup, an outcast when the Knicks dropped nine out of 11 games to start the 2026 calendar year, then a reinsertion into the rotation during the latter stretch of the regular season.
“Jordan, being out [of the lineup], he kept his mind present, he kept his body right. And it’s not just about the scoring that he’s done for us, but Jordan also understands that,” said Brown. “It’s ‘You know what? I’ve got to keep trying to figure out how I can separate myself from the pack and do the little things.’
“Part of those little things are he’s defending. He’s physical defensively, at times. He’s picking up full-court, and then he’s offensive rebounding. So he’s doing all the little things. And he may not get three or four offensive rebounds a game like Mitch [Robinson], but his impact of going to the glass every time, that has a cumulative effect on not just the guy guarding him, but on our opponent [as a whole]. So continue to embrace those little things is huge.”
C.J. McCollum scored a team-high 26 points on 11-of-20 shooting from the field in Game 1 against the Knicks. Was it good defense but better offense? Or are there some hiccups the Knicks need to clean up before they see Atlanta for Game 2?
“I think we can clean up [some things]. That communication of those small-small [guard lineups] and not allowing them to get him and Nickel [Alexander-Walker] to get open shots. But they’re talented players. You just try to get them to shoot as many contested shots as you can.
“So the communication’s got to be better. I think the physicality was good, but we had to ramp that up. They’re good players.”