Knicks' Josh Hart is the 'heart' of the team, Bucks' Doc Rivers says
The Knicks' Josh Hart walks off the court after being ejected from the game against the Bulls during the first quarter of an NBA game in Chicago on Friday. Credit: AP/Mark Black
MILWAUKEE — Josh Hart has never been an All-Star, isn’t a threat to break any scoring records for the Knicks and maybe is hard to even plan for in a scouting report. But when asked about the Knicks, Milwaukee Bucks coach Doc Rivers pointed to Hart and was serious in his praise.
“Hart, I don’t want to be corny, but he’s in some ways the heart of their team because of all the stuff he does,” Rivers said. “He’s just funny. Hart’s had this career where he’s just been moving around, and he looks like he’s found the perfect place for him. He almost matches the city.
“But when he plays well — and that doesn’t mean scoring, that means four to five offensive rebounds, two to three charges, some scoring, [and] his defensive steals — the Knicks are a really good basketball team, and that’s hard to prepare for. You can’t do that at shootaround. You can’t work on energy in shootaround or toughness with the other guy in shootaround. You just have to prepare your team for it and be ready for it.”
And that glowing comment may explain why Hart was still frustrated Sunday afternoon as he discussed the first-quarter ejection for a flagrant 2 foul on Friday night that sent him to the locker room and played no small part in the Knicks’ loss to the Bulls.
Hart drove the lane and while off-balance had one leg raised that made contact with the head of Bulls rookie Javonte Green. Referee Scott Foster immediately hit him with a technical, but after a video review, he told Hart it was intentional and assessed him with the flagrant 2 foul that resulted in the ejection.
“Obviously I’m off-balance,” Hart said. “My leg is going up before I even look at him. But give credit to Scott Foster for thinking my athletic ability is so great that he can’t fathom that I was able to make that decision to kick him in a split-second.
“Obviously sucks, it being taken out of my control. Flagrant 1 I think it probably should’ve been, something that was accidental. But I’m not sure what he was thinking because he was later like, oh, intent doesn’t matter and yada, yada, yada. But then he told me I looked at him and kicked him, which obviously implies that I intended to. I’m not sure what his thought process was. Because it was kind of two different stories. So it is what it is.”
Without Hart, the Knicks were outrebounded and trailed wire-to-wire. With the standings tightly packed and every game capable of shifting the Knicks’ playoff position, that was hard to stomach.
“That’s an interesting call, especially in the first quarter,” Hart said. “Obviously, if it was third quarter, it’s been a chippy game, you’ve got to make an example, I understand it a little bit more. But especially this late in the season, bro, every game matters. Making a call like that where obviously it’s not a purposeful act, it’s selfish.”
The Knicks are in a tight race for playoff positions with the Bucks, the Cavaliers and the Magic. So even Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau, who rarely looks beyond the task directly in front of him, admitted he looks at the standings — if not the calendar.
“I have no idea what day it is,” he said. “It’s the best time of the year. If you love competition — and I think even the way everything is structured right now, I think the play-in, the idea behind that was really good. It’s made it fascinating down the stretch, because you have to have a lot of different schools of thought and understand the intensity that’s involved in these games right now. And it’s across the board. You have teams that everyone is fighting for something right now.”
Notes & quotes: Thibodeau and Rivers both wore customized Nike sneakers with a rainbow infinity symbol to promote autism awareness and acceptance as part of a fundraiser started by a Utah Jazz assistant coach. “Thank you,” Thibodeau said. “Scott Morrison, who’s an assistant with the Utah Jazz, has started a foundation for his son to bring awareness to autism. So the coaches, it’s a great cause, and we’re happy to be part of it, just to bring awareness to it. Scott’s a terrific person, and so he’s doing a great thing.”
Rivers joked that this was as fashionable as Thibodeau would ever be, and the Knicks’ coach said, “It’s true. It’s true. Very true.”
Steve Popper covers the Knicks for Newsday. He has spent nearly three decades covering the Knicks and the NBA, along with just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.
