Joker O’Quinn comes into own as dominant center
Backup center Kyle O’Quinn is an enigma wrapped in a riddle, and right now, he is riddling opposing teams with a dominance he never has shown in a five-year career.
It’s been a nearly fourweek joyride for O’Quinn, who has put up two 20and-10 games in that span capped by Thursday’s double-double bonanza against his former team, the Magic — 14 points, 16 rebounds, and five blocks.
The flake from Queens has a big beard and a bigger personality — a clown- ish type who turned off ultra-serious former head coach Derek Fisher, who yanked him in and out of the rotation last season.
O’Quinn also likes to bust reporters’ chops with one-word answers to their long, thought-out questions. In fact, after his heroics Thursday, O’Quinn was bestowed the walk-off interview on the Garden’s public-address system with MSG Network’s Rebecca Haarlow. After a long, detailed query, O’Quinn devilishly asked her to repeat it. She did.
His Twitter feed is a wreck — a series of unintelligible strings of letters he won’t explain.
“I’m still trying to figure [the personality] out,” Knicks coach Jeff Hornacek said. “There are times he is the clown — not the clown, but the guy that does impersonations, which keeps everyone else loose. It’s great to have one guy on the team that’s kind of that guy. You want to keep an eye out it’s always at the right time. If you’re on a three-game losing streak, it’s not the time to be clowning around.”
O’Quinn has a sensitive side. His father, Tommie, died in a car crash before last season. Tommie O’Quinn owned a hardware store in Queens, and when it shut down, he turned it into a hall-offame space for his son, walls adorned with plaques, awards and photos of his basketball career. The father also would watch O’Quinn’s NBA games at the former store, which the family still owns.
After O’Quinn’s 20and-14 game vs. Minnesota on Dec. 2, he made the back page of The Post, blocking a Karl-Anthony Towns shot, with the headline: “Kyle High Club.”
A team staffer had the back page framed and presented it to him to donate to the hall-of-fame hardware-store room. O’Quinn became teary-eyed.
When asked about his evolution from last season, when the Knicks shopped him at the trade deadline, O’Quinn said simply: “We’re winning. Hopefully we don’t take a dip like last year. Things go well when you win.”