Sports

Knicks getting big Thanksgiving feast courtesy of Jarrett Jack

Jarrett Jack is the Knicks’ starting point guard, quarterback, organizer and now host for a Thanksgiving party on the road.

The team will make the best of Thanksgiving Day after a big 108-100 comeback victory over the Raptors on Wednesday. They won’t practice, but will fly to Atlanta ahead of Friday’s game versus the Hawks. Upon landing, the club will head for a feast at Jack’s offseason home in the early evening.

Jack, a former Georgia Tech star, settled down in Atlanta despite making nine stops across his 12-year NBA career.

Jack told The Post he’s flying in his personal chef from his hometown of Washington, and he’s cooking up the feast for the hungry Knicks players and coaching staff. Jack estimated a head count of 45.





“We’ll have everything under the sun,’’ Jack told The Post.

Jack has done plenty for Thanksgiving already. He has hosted three charity events in the past two weeks giving out free turkeys, including one in Washington as well as northern New Jersey and Manhattan.

Now the Knicks get to enjoy Jack’s generosity, as they have enjoyed his sharing of the ball this season.

“It’s how the schedule fell,’’ guard Ron Baker said of getting to celebrate Thanksgiving at Jack’s home. “Jarrett’s a great veteran. Obviously for him to welcome us into his house on the holiday is awesome. Everyone wants to be with family but this job comes first. Jarrett’s a friend and teammate. You can’t ask for a better guy to host.’’





Rookie Frank Ntilikina will experience his first Thanksgiving. He’s one of four Europeans on the Knicks. Thanksgiving is a national holiday, but the extension of the American culture creates a bonding experience for the team, according to Enes Kanter.

Kanter is from Turkey, which, yes, the bird is said to have gotten its name from. However, Turkey doesn’t celebrate America’s so-called Turkey Day.

“It’s cool,’’ Kanter said. “It’s not my culture, but I like to celebrate with some people, bringing us together. I think it’s a really cool holiday. I like the Thanksgiving culture.’’

Jack has a lot to be thankful for this season as he has recovered nicely for his knee surgeries that limited him to 34 games the past two seasons — just two last season.





The irony of Jack hosting the party is he wasn’t even supposed to be on the roster after mid-November. When the regular season commenced, the original plan was to release Jack after Joakim Noah became eligible from his drug suspension.

By the season’s fourth game, Jack went from waiver-wire candidate to starting point guard and the Knicks haven’t looked back. Hornacek said Jack has made a fine recovery from knee surgery.

“Jarrett really hasn’t played in a year and a half,’’ Hornacek said. “Coming back from knee surgery, it’s always a little tough. It looks like he’s finally getting in a comfort zone with his knee that he had in the past. He was a great player for many years. All that’s starting to come back for him.”





Ramon Sessions had outplayed Jack in preseason. Entering Wednesday’s game, Jack was averaging 5.6 points, 5.6 assists and 1.5 turnovers. His assist-to-turnover ratio is ranked 12th in the NBA.

“The conditioning part of it — he looks like he’s in much better shape,’’ Hornacek said. “That’s to his credit. Being a veteran guy he knew what it took to get back in great shape. He’s done that.

“We all knew what Jarrett Jack could do. That was the hope. He was able to get in shape and back to [his original self], even though he’s older.’’





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