Josh Hart Agenda Helps Knicks Get Back on Track

Josh Hart rebounded in more ways than one for the New York Knicks in their latest matchup against the Miami Heat at Kaseya Center.

New Yorkers worried about metropolitan depth likely sighed in relief upon seeing Hart’s performance Wednesday night: while it may have been somewhat buried by Karl-Anthony Towns’ sterling breakout, Hart joined the former Minnesota Timberwolf in the brotherhood of double-doubles for the third consecutive game.

The Knicks veteran paired 10 points with a game-best 14 rebounds in a 116-107 victory over the hated Heat.

“That’s what you love about him,” Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau said of Hart, per Stefan Bondy of the New York Post. “There’s no other agenda other than winning. So whatever you ask him to do, he’s going to give you everything he has.”

Hart’s heroics (coming on a night where he and the Knicks held Miami rebound Bam Adebayo to only three boards) came just about 48 hours after he asked Thibodeau to take him out of Monday’s futile visit of the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Already dealing with continued depth issues with both Precious Achiuwa and Mitchell Robinson out indefinitely, pessimistic Knicks fans no doubt panicked upon seeing Hart ask for a sub after a collision in the latter stages of the Cavs game. In two-plus years as a New Yorker, Hart has gained a supreme reputation for his longevity and conditioning, which have seen him get the call for 48-minute showings amidst prior Manhattan medical woes.

Hart put those concerns to rest on Wednesday, revealing the x-rays yielded from his on-court collision with Caris LeVert were negative.

“It was just one of those things where I didn’t want to be too prideful and be like, ‘No I’m good, I can play,’ and then not be able to be myself or defend or rebound at the level I do, especially at the end of the game,” Hart said in Bondy’s report. “I made that decision to ask out and have [Miles McBride] stay in the game and finish that game and trust them.”

While the Knicks (2-2) couldn’t vindicate Hart’s faith on Monday, he came through for them in South Beach: in a team-best 42 minutes, Hart fell just four assists short of his first triple-double of the year he hit a key triple toward the end of the third quarter to set the Knicks up with a seven-point lead entering the final frame.

Hart has also tied a career-best by building a streak of three consecutive double-doubles for the fifth time in his career. He’ll get a chance to earn a record fourth on Friday when the Knicks continue a road trip in Detroit (7 p.m. ET, MSG).

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