Josh Hart turns his motor back on after Knicks' Game 4 loss
Knicks guard Josh Hart drives on Indiana Pacers guard Bennedict Mathurin in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Finals at Madison Square Garden on Thursday. Credit: Newsday/J. Conrad Williams Jr.
NDIANAPOLIS
This is not me. This is not us.
That was Josh Hart’s take after watching video of the Knicks’ Game 4 clunker in Indiana. Hart was so upset by the way he played in the 130-121 loss that put his team on the brink of elimination that he could barely look at his teammates. The way he saw it, he owed them something more and committed to do everything possible to get the team going and extend its season at least one more game.
Determined to rebound from his ugly five-turnover performance, Hart came off the bench Thursday to give the Knicks the energy they needed in Game 5, finishing with a double-double in a 111-94 victory. He had 12 points, 10 rebounds, four assists and two steals and looked like his high-energy self again.
To keep the Knicks’ season alive and force a Game 7 at Madison Square Garden, he and the rest of the team need to replicate that kind of effort and desperation.
“I was really embarrassed about what I was doing, how I looked and the lack of intensity, lack of passion and lack of competitiveness,” Hart said of how he felt after watching the Game 4 loss that gave the Pacers a 3-1 lead. “I was embarrassed, honestly. Not even the turnovers. But giving up back cuts, not communicating. I’m the guy who’s supposed to play with a high competitive nature, a high motor. Those were things I wasn’t doing. I couldn’t look at myself in the mirror, let alone look at these guys.”
Most good teams have a player like Hart, an energy guy whose value to the team can’t be gauged solely by glancing at a stat sheet. Hart is only 6-4, but he rebounds like someone a half-foot taller. He crashes the glass with instinct, hustle and timing. More than once in this postseason, he has sliced through a bunch of giants to come up with key rebounds in the final minutes.
Hart also has shown himself in this series to be a selfless team player. After the Knicks lost the first two games, he went to coach Tom Thibodeau and suggested that 7-foot defensive specialist Mitchell Robinson replace him in the starting unit to play alongside 7-footer Karl-Anthony Towns.
“That’s Josh,” Knicks captain Jalen Brunson said. “I’m not surprised. He’s a team-first guy who wants to win.”
The Knicks are 2-1 since that lineup change. In the two wins, Robinson helped set the tone defensively and Hart has been able to use his energy to lead a bench that is becoming more important as the series wears on.
During the regular season, Thibodeau rarely played more than eight players. In the Game 5 win, he went 11 deep, delighting Knicks fans who at one point were chanting “Landry Shamet! Landry Shamet!” when the rarely used guard came up with some big plays.
“Obviously, the kind of player Josh is, he brings energy to our team,” backup point guard Deuce McBride said. “Honestly, it’s no surprise he bounced back like he did. We know what he does, and as long as he’s impacting the game, I think we’re in great hands.”
Only 13 teams out of 297 have come back from a 3-1 deficit to win an NBA playoff series. Though the Knicks want to concentrate on one game at a time, Hart believes nothing is impossible and knows he has to continue to play the way he did in Game 5 to give his team the best chance to win.
He has to adopt the same kind of attitude he did after watching the ugly video of Game 4. When Hart plays poorly, it usually isn’t for lack of effort. Sometimes the same energy that gets the Knicks going can lead to careless turnovers and maybe some ill-advised shots. If he can limit those while still playing at the same tempo, it will help his team all around.
“It is just, go out there and be aggressive defensively, try to get into the ball, fly around and get offensive rebounds, defensive rebounds and get these guys going,” Hart said. “I’ve got to be a little more aggressive offensively and just pick my spots.”
In other words, he needs to be the player he knows he can be.
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.
