Guerschon Yabusele’s focused aggressiveness led to Knicks breakthrough

The bar wasn’t that high, but Wednesday was probably Guerschon Yabusele’s best game as a Knick.

He played 13 minutes in the Knicks’ 123-111 win over the Clippers at Madison Square Garden and recorded eight points and two rebounds.

“Yabu was huge,” head coach Mike Brown said after the game. “The lineups that we faced warranted it. He was great defensively, he was aggressive — I love his aggressiveness. That’s something we’ve talked about a few times — if you’re able to catch the ball and make a quick decision, snap drive it, as quick as you are, as athletic as you are, go to dunk it. Go to dunk it. I don’t care if you miss it, whatever, go to dunk it because you’re more than capable of turning it over on people. … We need him to continue being aggressive if he can snap–drive it. Especially at his size, attacking the rim with aggression. And then we need him to rebound, that’s one of the big reasons he’s on the floor. For him to get out and help in that department, that was big.”

Yabusele, the Knicks’ biggest free agency signing since Donte DiVincenzo, had largely fallen out of Brown’s rotation amid a rough start to the season personally.

He had four straight DNPs near the end of December and had been usurped by Mohamed Diawara.

But it seems like Yabusele has regained his spot.

Diawara played just two minutes Wednesday. And in six games since those four DNPs, Yabusele averaged 11.0 minutes per game.

Josh Hart’s eventual return from his sprained ankle will likely cut into Yabusele’s minutes.

But the Knicks signed Yabusele to be a key part of their bench unit. He is beginning to show that could become reality.

“He stays ready,” Jalen Brunson said. “I think him playing the way he did, especially in the second half, is fantastic. It’s what we needed.”

Hart (sprained ankle) remains out for Friday’s game against the Suns in Phoenix, the eighth straight that he’ll miss. He is set to be reevaluated Friday.