Josh Hart's improved performance gives Knicks a spark
The Knicks’ Josh Hart running down a loose ball while playing the Chicago Bulls in the fourth quarter at Madison Square Garden on Sunday. Credit: Newsday/J. Conrad Williams Jr.
Not long before the start of the game Monday Josh Hart was holding court, cackling as he discussed his growing list of bumps, bruises and, well, a hard-to-look at ring finger on his shooting hand, well aware that the Knicks, who guard secrets better than the White House, would hate to hear him openly revealing the issues.
There was the finger, which will need a surgical procedure in the offseason to try to correct and for now is encased in a splint during games to hide that it is facing in the wrong direction and nerve damage has caused numbness in three fingers. There was back spasms, still being treated, and an ankle sprain, which had him listed as questionable for the game.
He chose to look on the bright side, noting, “My knees are solid. The one thing that is solid right now, so we are good.”
He also revealed that the original schedule for him to return from the lumbar spasms that had sidelined him from the opening preseason game in Abu Dhabi until the second game of the regular season, really wasn’t supposed to have him back in uniform until Wednesday.
“Ahead of schedule,” he said optimistically.
Maybe it’s right on time, too, as for the second straight game he provided a spark in his new role off the bench, this time helping the Knicks turn a three-point halftime advantage into a blowout win over the Washington Wizards at Madison Square Garden.
Hart had struggled with his shooting as he adjusts to playing through the hand issues — 2-for-14 from three in his first five games. But in the third quarter as the Knicks were turning the game into a laugher he drained two straight threes and then added a tough driving layup after it, finishing the night with 12 points, 10 rebounds and five assists. Hart matched Jalen Brunson and Mikal Bridges as a team-high plus-21 in the game. And Mike Brown named him the defensive player of the game.
The injuries have been a problem for a player who led the NBA in minutes per game last season, but he has managed to push his way into action ahead of schedule. Some of that may be because of his ability to play through the pain, some from the cocktail of pregame coffee, energy drinks and a supply of sugar high enough that Mike and Ike named him to a front office role as candy ambassador before the season began.
Maybe it’s just working his way through the injuries. But it seems like it’s no coincidence that as Brown has pushed Hart into a bigger role, more time with the starters he shared the floor with last season, his performance has improved and the Knicks have improved, too.
Hart played just 15 minutes in Chicago Friday and seemed to sulk through the night, sitting alone on the bench during timeouts.
“I think I kind of just wanted to clean up my yard,” Hart said. “I was frustrated about some things. Don’t ask me what they were, because I’m not going to tell you. And obviously injuries and things, and I’m trying to figure it out. So it was like, let me make sure I go out there and just play the game with joy and get back to being me and flying around.”
“I’ve only experienced good things,” Brown said. “Now, he missed the whole preseason, came back and I tried to throw him on the floor. I didn’t know what I was doing. All you’ve got to do is look at his rotation, the substitution pattern, look at his minutes. So I needed to quickly kind of get up to speed. So I had to figure out how to use him. And these last two games were probably the first time that he had consistent minutes. Not only is getting consistent minutes but I knew what to do, when to put him in and how to use him out on the floor.”
Hart has gone through these swings before. Last season, he wondered aloud about his role in preseason, claiming, “I’m lost,” before becoming one of the key players in the team’s run. Tom Thibodeau figured out how to unleash Hart and Brown might be finding that out now, which is basically send him onto the floor and watch the chaos ensue.
“Mike’s new. We’re all getting accustomed and acclimated to everybody so you definitely feel that a little bit,” Hart said. “And the great thing about Mike, he’s an amazing person, first and foremost. He always has an open door. If you don’t understand something that’s going on, you can always go talk to him. So obviously this is a process. Everybody wants it built now but it won’t be. And we’re all learning, including him.
“It’s who I am and me and Mike talked about that the other day. It’s what makes me, me. There’s a good side to it and there are also times there’s a bad side to it. And Chicago, that was the bad side to it. I was visibly upset.
"My body language was terrible. I was frustrated. And I got to take accountability for that. I was terrible. So that’s the one thing about me: I wear my heart on my sleeve. I got to try and control it, which I have for 30 years now. But I got to make sure no matter the situation I’m breathing life into these guys and not taking life.”
Hart was back on Monday. Bruised and beaten up, but smiling again.
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.
