The Knicks are heading to Las Vegas for the Semifinals of the NBA Cup for the first time in the tournament’s three-year history, and Josh Hart had a big hand in Tuesday’s win over the Raptors.
While Jalen Brunson’s offensive outburst — especially in the first quarter — will headline the victory, Hart’s contributions on both sides of the floor were huge.
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Hart added 21 points on 8-of-11 shooting (4-for-7 from three), to go along with six rebounds, four assists and two steals.
It was an all-around performance that usually goes under the radar, but Tuesday’s performance stood out.
Although head coach Mike Brown credited Brunson’s 20-point first quarter for bailing out his team when they allowed 39 points to the Raptors, it was after that point when Hart shined. He scored seven points of his own in the opening period and after just a two-point second quarter in seven minutes, Hart made the Raptors’ defense pay for double-teaming Brunson.
Hart went 3-for-4, including 2-of-3 from downtown, to help the Knicks maintain their commanding lead after the pesky Raptors tried to make a push.
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“They keep going in, and people keep leaving him open because they’re trying to put their fives on them,” Brown said of Hart’s shooting after the win. “He can shoot a little bit, but he works really hard at it, and so it’s no surprise to us that he’s shooting it as well as he is.”
Brown credited the other guys on the floor for finding Hart when the defense leaves him open, but talked up Hart’s ability to knock down the open shots.
The first-year Knicks coach and Hart have had an interesting relationship this season. After Hart began the season injured, Brown had Hart begin the year as a reserve as he tried different combinations of players. When OG Anunoby went down with injury, Hart was inserted into the starting lineup at the behest of Brown’s coaching staff and it’s worked.
Tuesday was Hart’s ninth straight game starting and he’s hit double figures scoring in seven of them and the team is 8-1 in that span.
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And as Brown continues to learn more about his players, it’s Hart that he says makes his job easier by comparing him to a former champion.
“I tell you what, he reminds me of Andre Iguodala from the sense that if you don’t really understand basketball, then it’s hard to really appreciate their game,” Brown explained. “Both those guys, sometimes we look at him, and you might be like, well, he’s not really this, he’s not that, he can’t do this again. It’s the opposite. It’s they can do everything. Josh can do everything.
“There’s just some things that he does that are elite, and some things that he does pretty good. That’s what Josh is. He does everything that you want him to do, not only offensively, but defensively, too. Guarding, one through five, and so on and so forth. Same offensively. Some of the things he does at an elite level, and some of the things he does at a pretty good level. And when you have a player with an IQ of Andre or Josh, man, good things can happen for your whole team, and it makes your job easier as a head coach.”
