Josh Hart has maximized his value to the Knicks by putting aside any personal dreams of stardom, writes James L. Edwards III of The Athletic. Throughout his career, which included stops with four teams in six years before he found a home in New York, Hart always believed he could be more than just a scrappy player who tends to make the right play at the right time.
He told Edwards that he adopted a new mindset this season and is now focused on finding ways to make his high-profile teammates better. That led to setting a franchise record with nine triple-doubles during the season and averaging career highs of 9.6 rebounds and 5.9 assists along with 13.6 points per game.
“I think it’s realizing … for me, I feel like I’ve grown in my faith more,” Hart said. “I’ve been trying to take on that servant mentality. I want to make sure I can cater to these guys and make sure that they’re successful and put in the right positions to blossom.”
Edwards states that Hart often points to Celtics guard Jrue Holiday as an example of sacrificing individual glory for the greater good. Holiday was a two-time All-Star who accepted a reduced role in Boston’s offense to help produce a championship, and he’s in a unique position to understand Hart’s value to the Knicks.
“Even though people might say, like, he doesn’t shoot the ball well enough or do whatever, he makes plays, and he makes the game easier for everybody else based off his play,” Holiday said. “And it’s not just his effort. He’s really smart. He gets to the basket. He offensive rebounds. Things that guys don’t really want to do, he’s excellent at it. Guys who really take that to heart and can really play that type of game, I feel like you can be in the league as long as you want to if you play that way.”
There’s more on the Knicks:
- Karl-Anthony Towns scored eight of the team’s final 10 points in Sunday’s win at Detroit, and one of the clutch shots was a fadeaway he developed while working with Kyrie Irving last summer, according to Stefan Bondy of The New York Post. Towns said Irving taught him the finer points of the shot, including where to hold the ball and how to launch it above the defender “It’s something that I never really had,” Towns said. “And it didn’t look as good. And I was able to iron my game out watching a great like him. One of the most talented players the NBA has ever seen and just did it as best I could to add my little flavor to it. It may not look as good as his — I ain’t going to lie, I think it’s pretty damn ugly — but it’s effective when I need it to be.”
- Mikal Bridges hit two late three-pointers Sunday after shooting just 1-of-10 from the field in the first three quarters, per Jared Schwartz of The New York Post. Bridges said he drew inspiration from his teammates, particularly Cameron Payne, who has seen limited playing time since scoring 14 points in the series opener. “I think the biggest is Cam Payne,” Bridges said. “He’s big on voicing, helping me out. Sometimes, him calling me some not good names helps as well. It just feeds off that.”
- Coach Tom Thibodeau deserves more credit for the adjustments he has made throughout the series, including getting more shots for Towns after he was shut down in Game 2, contends Ian Begley of SNY. Begley notes that Thibodeau’s job might have been in jeopardy with a first-round loss, but he has responded with a high-level coaching performance.
After every knick playoff W
Refs : whoopsie we made a booboo. We’ll be better next time. Pinky swear
Adam silver: refs will be held accountable , wink wink
Yeah EVERY playoff win ????
Have you ever watched a game.
Thibs deserves no credit, because he is overworking his players too early in the playoffs, and that always leads to wear down and a 2nd round exit.
Hart should be coming off the bench. He still can get same numbers. And still play 34 mins. Every good team has or needs a player like Hart. All about the game and what to do to win it.
KAT is a liability on D. There are times when he doesn’t even box out. And whats the point of getting the ball on the perimeter. Then watching him try and shake n bake. An open look yeees. But please go post then get ball.
Its like non existent today. Bully ball is. When you got a smaller guy on you. No team should disrespect a 7’ with a little guy. You go down low. Get the pass and abuse him. Its called a mismatch. Its called smart ball. Its called good offense. He should be doing that to Harris. Instead of trying to dribble around him or over him. How dumb is that. If they put Harris on Ewing he’d avg 50 for the series. Mason would avg 30 for series. Just on the blocks. So sick of seeing Towns act like he got a handle. Thibs offense has regressed to iso ball. There is no more movement or passing. Its just watch a guy make a play. You know how easy that is to defend.
If Knicks had a bench this series would be over already. Seems to me Thibs hasn’t worked with Towns on his D. Its not working man. If Towns doesn’t score 30. Then he hurts us on D. Thats what happened gm2. Bridges is another one who has to level up. This Towns and this Bridges ain’t getting by Celtics………. Thibs and Rose gad all year to work on bench. They did nothing. So now we will see the repercussions of that. Pistons are just in the way. All year we knew it was about Celtics and Cavs…….
All Year …….. TJ where are you.