Josh Hart is finally back. And boy do the Knicks need him.
Hart, who has been out since Christmas with a sprained right ankle, returned to the rotation for the Knicks’ matchup against the Portland Trail Blazers on Sunday. Head coach Mike Brown told reporters Hart was “definitely getting close to returning” after practice in Phoenix on Saturday, and the versatile, playmaking forward touched on his injury status on a Jan. 8 episode of his “Roommates Show” with Jalen Brunson.
“I’ll be back at some point. We’ll see. Pretty good little sprain,” he said. “If this is my left ankle, I’m back by now. Because I’ve had some good ankle sprains on my left ankle. But I haven’t had many good ankle sprains on my right. This was a good one. After this, I won’t have any ligaments to sprain. So I’ll be solid.”
The Knicks went 3-5 with Hart on the sidelines and have been unrecognizable with their Swiss-army knife out of the rotation.
They rank 28th out of 30 teams in defensive rating over their last eight games, allowing 122.5 points per 100 possessions. Conversely, on offense, New York’s 117 points scored per 100 possessions keeps them in the top-10 (ninth) during that span but have seen an uptick in turnovers and a lack of ball movement before the two games leading into the Portland game on Sunday.
Hart, who is averaging 12.3 points, eight rebounds, 5.1 assists and 1.4 steals on a career-best 38.9% clip from three-point range, said he spent his time on the sidelines dissecting how he can better serve the team upon his return.
“When you’re watching it, you also hear the announcers and hear some of the stats, and they said it’s either 20 or more games where we were trailing after the first quarter, and we we were 19-0 with a lead headed into the 4th quarter until the San Antonio game. So more than 65 percent of our games, we’re not starting the game off right, whether that’s the starters, the guys coming in right off the bench to start the quarter,” Hart said. “So no matter what I’m doing, I’ve gotta make sure I bring the physicality and toughness to start the game and have that be a contagious thing and if guys aren’t doing that, hold them accountable.
“So for me, I don’t like missing games but it’s also good to be able to see it removed [from it] to be like, ‘When I come back, this is what I’ve gotta do to try to bring a positive impact.’ So it’s frustrating.”
The Knicks surged after Brown’s decision to insert Hart into the starting lineup and bring defensive anchor Mitchell Robinson off the bench. New York is 10-3 with Hart in the starting five.
Hart said the mid-season injury could help preserve him for the long run. He noted he wore down as the Knicks progressed to the Eastern Conference Finals, where they ultimately fell short against the Indiana Pacers, in part because of the veteran forward’s diminished play.
“For me, I’m looking at it both ways because I want to play, but this could be beneficial down the stretch, not playing all those game. At the end of last year, I felt like I didn’t have ‘IT’ and that was more me personally,” he said. “So now it’s like OK, I don’t wanna say I have a break, but I’m not having these games, and down the line I have more to tap into. And by the way there’s highs and lows. It’s an 82-game season. If we go on a 10-game winning streak, no one remembers the four-game losing streak, and then you go on a three-game losing strs, no one remembers the 10-game winning streak. So it’s all ’bout getting better and learning from the highs and lows. So it’s not the end of the world.”
