Knicks get Josh Hart back, defeat Trail Blazers
Knicks guard Josh Hart drives to the basket beside Portland Trail Blazers center Donovan Clingan on Sunday. Credit: AP/Amanda Loman
PORTLAND, Ore. — The Knicks were just beginning to regain control of a game that seemed in danger of getting away from them when Josh Hart burst upon Jrue Holiday and swiped the ball. He raced the other way for a fast-break layup with 2:53 remaining.
It wasn’t the deciding basket and he wasn’t the savior, but it was one more example of what the Knicks were missing without him: energy, effort, defense and the knack for a timely play.
“That one hurt,” said Hart, who returned from a sprained ankle. “I got the steal. Honestly, I was like, I don’t know if I’m going to be able to make it to the basket. I thought he was going to do a chase-down block. But that one was the main one where I felt it a little bit. Luckily, though, at the end of the game.”
With Hart back — immediately inserted in the starting lineup and contributing 18 points, six assists and a little bit of everything else — the Knicks beat the Portland Trail Blazers, 123-114, on Sunday night.
Jalen Brunson led the Knicks (25-14) with 26 points and eight assists. OG Anunoby (24 points, 14 in the fourth quarter), Karl-Anthony Towns (20) and Mikal Bridges (18) contributed to a balanced attack. So maybe there was something to having the connector back in the lineup.
Hart missed eight games after spraining his right ankle on Christmas Day. He said he feared it might be much worse.
“At first, the way it felt, the way it popped, it’s definitely better than I thought,” he said. “I thought it would be dislocated, the way it sounded and felt.”
While he was sidelined, the Knicks lost five of eight games, including a four-game losing streak. That might have pushed him to get back on the floor sooner than he would have if the team hadn’t been struggling, but he said he didn’t feel the need to be a savior.
“My plan originally, I wanted to try to come back that Clipper game,” Hart said. “I learned a day or two before that Clipper game that was not going to happen, just how it was feeling. If we were on a good little run, I’d have taken a couple more days, couple more games. I felt I could come in and help where I’m at right now. I’m good.
“I kind of had a disagreement with medical yesterday. I wanted to do a little more game-speed stuff, but they didn’t want me to do too much game-speed stuff yesterday because they didn’t want me to be too sore today. So we were going back and forth with that. But the first two or three up-and-backs is the worst, and then after that it’s good.”
For a player who began the season out of the starting lineup and had to hear fans on social media pushing for him to have surgery on the broken finger on his shooting hand, this season has been steady proof of his importance.
“They say what they want to say,” Brunson said. “We control what we can control. His energy is contagious. I’m just really happy to have him back. He’s worked his butt off, obviously, trying to get back. He’s a big part of what we do regardless of what people say and all that stuff. So I’m just happy he’s back.”
Hart came out on the court for the start of the game, went to the baseline and hugged Trail Blazers executives, having played here before being traded to the Knicks. He connected on his first two three-point attempts as Portland dared him to shoot, putting 7-2 center Donovan Clingan on him. He had eight points in the first four minutes and the Knicks were off and running.
“Big time. We needed it,” Brunson said. “We need him at his best and especially, those first two shots, the layup, too, were big time for us to see him just knock those down and make a tough layup. His energy is contagious. I’m just happy he is back.”
“A lot of our guys are irreplaceable, and especially a guy like Josh who does so many little things for you,” Mike Brown said. “Sometimes it doesn’t show up in the stat sheet. So having him back was good. Even having him back helps with our pace because he gets out and runs. He throws it ahead and he pushes the ball at an extremely fast pace and so we get easy baskets when we’re able to play like that.”
The Knicks led most of the way, but with 9:24 remaining in the fourth quarter, Deni Avdija scored in the lane, drawing a foul on Hart, and his three-point play put the Blazers in front 95-92. It was their first lead since midway through the second quarter.
Shaedon Sharpe’s basket gave Portland a 104-103 lead with 5:24 left, but the Knicks responded with an 11-0 run in 82 seconds featuring two three-pointers by Anunoby and one by Deuce McBride off a steal and assist by Anunoby. Hart’s steal and layup gave the Knicks a 114-104 lead.
Sharpe’s three-pointer made it 117-112, but Hart hit a driving bank shot and Anunoby tipped in Hart’s miss and then dunked to put the Knicks ahead 123-112.
Notes & quotes: Guerschon Yabusele sat out his second straight game with a quadriceps contusion . . . Brown trimmed his rotation to eight players, other than Mo Diawara’s 2:43 in the first half. That meant a DNP for Tyler Kolek and Kevin McCullar Jr.
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.
