The New York Knicks routed the Philadelphia 76ers on the opening Cup Night of the first-ever Emirates NBA Cup, 111-99. The story of the night of Joel Embiid's return and the debut of Philadelphia's big three was Josh Hart's triple-double performance of 14 points, 12 rebounds, and 10 assists. After the game, Hart joked with the media about the concerns over the Knicks' play throughout their first nine games.
“We’re just 10 games into the season,” said Hart of his Knicks, per Stefan Bondy of The New York Post. “We’ve got [the media] all crying about how we look, offensively, defensively. Some people ready to pack the season in, some people saying we lost our identity. We don’t listen to it. At the end of the day, we know what we have and it takes some fine-tuning.”
Hart had said during the team's preseason stretch of the schedule that he was “lost” out there on the offensive side of the court. His head coach, Tom Thibodeau, was asked about Hart's concerns after his triple-double to finish his postgame press availability. Thibodeau said that the way to handle situations where Hart makes comments like that is to let them “go in one ear and out the other.”
Sound familiar? It's because he's said this, almost exactly, before.
Hart is a joy to cover and watch play basketball. But it seems like his teammates and coaching staff have him figured out. A week after Hart's “lost” admission, Jalen Brunson addressed it after Hart had scored 20 points in a win:
“He just talks & talks. The one person I really don't worry about at all. Dude doesn't know when to stop talking”
Wednesday night is not the first time that Josh Hart has had an impactful performance in the wake of telling the world something that caused many to fear what might come next for the New York Knicks.
Let Hart be Hart
Bill Streicher-Imagn Images
From his hilarious on-court moments to bringing his bit about Brunson having a humongous head to the world of late-night talk shows, Hart seems to have found peace in being himself.
Hart's Knicks teammates and coaches seem to have learned throughout his tenure in New York to “Let Hart be Hart.” Yes, this is all a reference to The West Wing. Really, though! The newest Knicks beat reporter for The Athletic, James L. Edwards III, wrote after a blowout road win in Detroit that Hart's sense of humor connects the entire locker room:
‘It appears to be a close locker room and Hart’s humor seems to be the connector of it all.'
The Knicks have learned since trading for Hart that, sometimes, letting Josh be Josh means ignoring comments he makes to the media or allowing him the one wild pass per game he's asked fans to forgive him for. But the results are always going to be worth it. Hart's stat line from Tuesday night was legitimately historic.
Related New York Knicks NewsArticle continues below
For a team that's gone so aggressively all-in on playing complementary basketball, Hart fits perfectly as the man in the middle of it all. Not on defense, where he certainly does not want to play center, but in the middle of the talent they have on the offensive side of the ball between Jalen Brunson, Karl-Anthony Towns, and the wing duo of Mikal Bridges and OG Anunoby. As Hart has said himself, somebody has to do the dirty work and he's in New York to rebound the ball.
It's not that simple, though. Hart does much more than just rebound the basketball at an elite level and with demoralizingly intense effort. In the 2023-24 season, he tied his best mark for assists per game in a season by replicating his average from the 2021-22 season of 4.1; in ten games thus far, Hart is averaging 5.6 assists per game this year.
It's no coincidence that, if Hart were to keep up at this pace, that number would blow his previous career high out of the water. Sure, he played the second season of his career in Los Angeles with LeBron James and Brandon Ingram in an awkward year of waiting to be traded for Anthony Davis. But since then, Hart has never been on a team – or in a five-man lineup – with as much talent as the Knicks employ.
Hart isn't particularly known as a 3-point shooter, but the offseason addition of Towns neutralizes any negative impact Hart may have on the team's spacing and allows more of Hart's nimble cuts to the basket to be rewarded with quick passes inside. Hart has also shown to be an important part of what the team is trying to do defensively, with Towns in drop coverage and the three wings (Bridges, Anunoby, Hart) flying around the court plugging leaks wherever they see fit with switches and staggers.
At 5-5, the Knicks are tied for fourth place in an Eastern Conference that has not been off to the swiftest start to the season. Letting Hart be Hart will certainly be part of the team finding their way to consistent success.
Kris Pursiainen is an Associate Editor for all sports based in the NJ/NYC area. Kris has experience all over the country as a New York Knicks, New York Jets, New York Mets, Super Bowl LVIII, and Big East beat reporter.
Follow Us
Subscribe
