Knicks forward Josh Hart denies reports the team had a players-only meeting following Monday night’s disappointing loss to the Dallas Mavericks.
“We didn’t have a players-only meeting. Y’all dragging it,” Hart said after the Knicks snapped free from their slump to beat the Brooklyn Nets by a franchise-record 54 points on Wednesday. “We didn’t have a players-only meeting. I don’t know who said it, who did all that, but we didn’t have a players-only meeting.”
A report from ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne detailed a players-only meeting called by team captain Jalen Brunson after the Knicks lost the ninth of their last 11 games to the Mavericks on Monday. Hart said the report was well overblown.
“We talked, but it wasn’t like some big thing. So that got dragged. We didn’t have a players-only meeting,” he said. “We know what we have to do. We cleared stuff up yesterday in film and practice and today in walkthroughs. We know we haven’t been playing up to our capabilities, but we’re gonna continue to play off this win.”
Hart said the team needed to do some soul-searching and look itself in the mirror if it was going to save its season from going off the rails after the Knicks’ loss to the Mavericks.
“We all need to do some soul-searching,” he said. “Right now we’re playing embarrassing basketball. We’re not executing on the offensive end. Defensively, we’ve been abysmal. We’ve been terrible defensively all year.”
Brunson said the team did some of that soul-searching in-between games, but noted they have a long way to go to right their wrongs after a New Year’s stretch sent them tumbling in the win-loss column.
“Just sticking together, talking it through, having each other’s back, worrying about the little things on the court — not just the stats, but the stuff that doesn’t make the stat sheet. The stuff that actually makes a difference in close games that can break teams. So that’s what we’ve gotta continue to focus on,” he said. “We just had to be focused and get back to who we are and this is a good start for us but we’ve gotta continue to press the issue.”
