Josh Hart has finally made his return.
The Knicks forward, who’s been sidelined since the preseason opener with a lower back injury, was upgraded to a game-time decision ahead of Friday’s matchup with the Boston Celtics after participating in full-contact practice for the first time since early October. Thirty minutes ahead of tipoff, the Knicks gave the green light.
“You don’t really know how often you use your back until you hurt your back,” Hart said Friday. “Last week I was feeling good, kind of hitting all my checkmarks, and then I tried to go through doing live contact stuff and it was just not there. It’s not ready yet.
“It’s frustrating ’cause I wanna play. I wanna compete. But I gotta be smart with it.”
Hart sustained what the team called lumbar spasms in the Oct. 2 Abu Dhabi exhibition against the Philadelphia 76ers and hadn’t practiced or played in over three weeks.
Head coach Mike Brown confirmed Hart’s progress before tipoff, but the veteran swingman said he still isn’t sure exactly how he sustained the non-contact injury.
“Nah, I think it was just the rebound into the turn, and I guess my back just didn’t like that one too much,” he said from his locker before Friday’s game. “I wish I could say it was this or that, but I don’t know. It was a move that — it wasn’t even a move. It was a movement I’ve done all the time.”
The 29-year-old forward admitted his recovery has taken longer than expected.
“[It’s] frustrating. I wanted to be back Wednesday [for the season opener against the Cleveland Cavaliers], that was the plan, but my body didn’t respond how I wanted it to,” Hart said. “We’re here today. We’re gonna try to give it a go and see how I feel.”
The back is something he believes he’ll have to monitor throughout the season.
“It’s one of those things where I’m progressively getting better and starting to take contact and so yeah, here I am,” he said. “It’s tough because you don’t really know how it’ll respond until you put it to the test. I tried to put it to the test a little bit last week and it just wasn’t there. So now we’re here.
“During the season, it’s always tough to really go through a lot of testing cause you’re not doing too much crazy live practices. This will be a good test for it.”
Hart also entered training camp dealing with an aggravation to his surgically repaired right ring finger. He’ll wear a splint on that hand for the duration of the season before addressing it surgically next offseason.
“The splint’s my best friend,” he joked. “My finger’s still messed up. It’s still chopped. It kinda just is what it is at this point. Down the line, hopefully this offseason I’ll get it fixed, but until then we’re just gonna rock with it.”
Hart is coming off a career year in which he averaged roughly 14 points, 10 rebounds, and 6 assists per game. His limited practice time has put him behind in learning Mike Brown’s new up-tempo system, but Hart believes he’ll acclimate quickly once he’s back on the floor.
“I’m pretty good with it,” Hart said. “Obviously, Mike’s great with making sure guys are inclusive even though we’re hurt, and a lot of the stuff — the meat and potatoes — was what I was already running through. A couple new integrations of some of the stuff, but I’m confident in it. I think it’s gonna be very beneficial for a lot of the guys, and I look forward to playing that fast pace.”
