Josh Hart Takes Blame For Late Foul, Knicks Loss

Free throws proved rather costly for the New York Knicks on Wednesday night.

New York’s attempt to fully pull itself back from a 22-point deficit against the Chicago Bulls was taken away at the charity stripe: a brilliant scoring output from Karl-Anthony Towns was marred by a 4-of-8 tally with his singles and Chicago’s victorious margin in a 124-123 final was provided by a trio of freebies from Coby White, who got to the foul line after Josh Hart was ruled to have illegally interfered with his would-be winner from three-point range with just over three seconds remaining.

Head coach Tom Thibodeau strongly implied dissatisfaction with the call as he mutely shrugged when asked about it in the aftermath (h/t SNY). Hart, however, took full responsibility, reasoning that the true culprits’ threads had no black with their white.

“We lost the game because I fouled at the end. There’s no silver lining. There’s no other excuse,” Hart said, per Barbara Barker of Newsday. “I made an inexcusable mistake at the end of the game and it cost us the game and now there’s nothing we can do about it.”

Despite minimal contact on White, Hart was hardly demonstrative in the immediate aftermath of the whistle. He could only watch, along with thousands of shellshocked fans at Madison Square Garden, as White sank the awarded trio of singles that created the final score.

New York (5-6) could not request a visit to the replay monitor, as its challenge had been spent and lost in the first half.

Lost in the chaotic finale was a chance for the Knicks to start a winning streak, as some viewed Tuesday’s win over rival Philadelphia as a potential turning point. Instead, the Knicks will have to sart from scratch again after tipping off a four-game homestand on a dour note. New York has not pair consecutive wins together since Oct. 28-Nov. 1, when they won road games in Miami and Detroit.

Even before the fatal foul, Hart struggled to build upon a triple-double showing from Tuesday: he struggled to get shots up as the Knicks cut into Chicago’s surging lead and he closed things out with eight rebounds to go with six assists and points each. Hart wasn’t looking for any moral victories, calling Wednesday’s game “a tough one.”

“It should have been a big statement win for us,” Hart admitted, per Peter Botte of the New York Post. “It was the first win where we really got hit and really turned to swing back. I got to be better. That one is on my shoulders.”

Hart’s first chance at redemption lands on Friday night when the Knicks resume NBA Cup group play action against the Brooklyn Nets (7:30 p.m. ET, MSG).

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