Knicks get a big night all around, but Josh Hart keeps things pumping
Knicks guard Josh Hart looks to inbound the ball against the 76ers in the second half of an NBA game at Madison Square Garden on Tuesday. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
Finally, it happened. Josh Hart got a rest.
After playing Hart for 40 minutes or more in nine straight games, Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau decided his ironman guard deserved a break. And so, with less than six minutes left in what ended being a 106-79 Knicks victory Tuesday night over Philadelphia, Thibodeau motioned for Hart to take a seat after he had played for just 39 minutes and five seconds.
Hart received a rousing ovation from Knicks fans as he headed to the bench after he finished with his fourth triple-double in his last 18 games. Hart finished the game with 20 points, 19 rebounds and 10 assists. What’s more, he was the primary defender on Tobias Harris, who scored just two points on 1-for-6 shooting.
“I thought Josh Hart was incredible,” Thibodeau said. “His defense, his rebounding, his scoring, his playmaking, everything.”
While most of the buzz heading into the game was about the return of OG Anunoby, Hart deserved to share the headlines coming out of it. With these two players on the floor at the same time, the Knicks will be a tough defense to reckon with.
“That’s the beauty of Josh and OG. Both can play all three wing positions. They can play 2, 3 and 4, and they’re interchangeable, and sometimes, you can go with matchup,” Thibodeau said. “Like ‘OK, we can take advantage of this this way.’ And I like that, I like that versatility.”
The Knicks were 8-10 during the month-plus stretch that Anunoby was out after getting surgery to remove fragments in his elbow. Perhaps the brightest thing to come out of that stretch is the emergence of Hart as a versatile, workout sort of player who — despite his complaining about his coach off the court — seems more than willing to run through a wall for him when he gets on it.
Hart got his 26th start and did everything he could to make the most out of it. Afterward, he joked that Thibodeau had taken him out because he was on the precipice of having a 20-point, 20-rebound game.
“That would have been nice, but Thomas Thibodeau wanted to take me out of the game,” Hart said. “Everyone complained about me playing 40 minutes. I could have gotten my 20-20. So, I appreciate that Thomas.”
Thibodeau and his Knicks teammates are used to Hart’s moaning and complaining.
“He’s gonna give me grief about something, so it goes in one ear, out the other,” Thibodeau said. “But he was terrific. He plays to win, and that’s what I love about him. And so, he’s not a guy that plays for stats, even though his stats were great, unbelievable. But he plays to win, and that’s what makes him so valuable to us.”
Said Donte DiVincenzo who also played with Hart at Villanova: “He’s always complaining. He could have played 48 tonight and he would be complaining.”
The Knicks were in fourth place in the East when Anunoby went out and the Knicks began a stretch where they played without three starters and sometimes four. They are still playing without Julius Randle and Mitchell Robinson, though it sounds as though Randle has been making some progress.
Despite their losing record during that stretch, it may have been a lot of teeth gnashing about nothing as the Knicks are still in fourth place in the East. What’s more, Thibodeau has had a chance to find out a thing or two about his reserves during that period.
“I think you learn something every day,” Thibodeau said in his pregame news conference. It’s been an unusual season in term of injuries. . . . A lot of guys have stepped in and played really well. Their roles were expanded and they responded well to that.”
If you have to single out a player that Thibodeau has learned the most about, it’s Hart. The Knicks’ versatile guard entered Tuesday night’s game having played an average of 43.2 minutes per game in his last nine.
Said Thibodeau: “He plays to win.”
Barbara Barker is an award-winning columnist and features writer in the sports department at Newsday. She has covered sports in New York for more than 20 years.
