Hoops Rumors

The Knicks are now 2-3 in the five games since Josh Hart suffered a sprained ankle, and the impact of his absence can be felt all over the court, writes Jared Schwartz of the New York Post.

From the Knicks’ perimeter defensive toughness to their usual offensive rebounding prowess to their lack of transition attack, Hart’s fingerprints are typically found all over the game, especially in areas that require toughness or hustle.

“At the end of the day, having Josh out there helps a ton,” coach Mike Brown said. “Right now, our pace is not good. We’re walking the ball up almost every time and then everything is just going to the front side. It’s been a while, at least these last two games, our staples — our pace in the full court and the front court, we wanna space the floor correctly, we wanna make quick decisions, we wanna touch the paint and we want the ball getting reversed — and we haven’t seen a lot of any of that.”

Without Hart, Brown opted to start Mitchell Robinson and Karl-Anthony Towns together on Friday against the Hawks, a strategy the team has tried out at various times and which has yielded mixed results. Against the 76ers, Schwartz writes that both big men struggled as the team suffered its third straight loss.

“Obviously, we miss him,” Jalen Brunson said of Hart. “But there is no excuse to what we should be doing out there. Obviously, he’s a big part of what we do, but we gotta step up.”

We have more from the Knicks:

• While the last week has been something of a low point for the Knicks’ season, there’s reason to believe that hope is on the horizon, writes Ian Begley for SNY. Hart, though still limited to light on-court work, is expected to be reevaluated on Friday, and Begley writes that he’s expected to return soon after that. Meanwhile, Landry Shamet, who has been sidelined since November 22 with a shoulder sprain after a hot start to the year, is expected back on the court next week, according to Begley.
• The Knicks’ New Year’s resolution should be to fix their floundering defense, writes Kristian Winfield of the New York Daily News (subscriber link). The team has ranked in the bottom 10 in the NBA since the start of December. “It starts with guarding the ball and guarding the ball without fouling,” Brown said. “And on top of that, obviously our transition defense — both of those areas haven’t been good. Those have been themes as of late for us and we’ve got to somehow, someway fix it.” After Saturday’s loss, the Knicks have now given up at least 124 points in six of their last seven games. They also have a negative net rating over their last eight games. Their offense has struggled as well of late, which makes the defense all the more important. “When the shot’s not falling, where else are we going to hang our hat?” Brown asked. “It has to be on the defensive end. And we didn’t do that tonight.”
• It’s been a while since Knicks fans had something to boo about, but Friday’s loss to the Hawks saw fans boo their home team multiple times throughout the game, Winfield writes. It happened midway through the third quarter, as Atlanta’s lead climbed to 29 points. Then, at the beginning of the fourth, the boos came again. “It’s human nature when you have success you tend to let down a little bit, especially when you’re playing or competing against the best in the world,” Brown said. “It’s human nature to let go of the rope from time to time, especially if you’re still finding ways to have success. And then when you do have success, I’ve experienced this on a lot of other teams I’ve been with, people come for your neck and they’re coming for your neck for 48 minutes.”