© Vincent Carchietta-USA TODAY Sports
Josh Hart, Not Refs, Has Been Knicks' Star
Josh Hart's breakout has done more for the New York Knicks' 2-0 series lead over the Philadelphia 76ers than any ref ever could.
There's no place like home ... unless you're Josh Hart.
Hart and fellow Villanova University alumni Jalen Brunson and Donte DiVincenzo are making their way back to the site of their respective hardwood origin stories, as the New York Knicks will continue their best-of-seven opening round set against the Philadelphia 76ers on the hallowed hardwood of Wells Fargo Center on Thursday night (7:30 p.m. ET, MSG/TNT).
Game 3 will be staged beneath two national championship banners that Hart, Brunson, and DiVincenzo helped raise as members of the Wildcats' men's basketball program. The trio is no doubt used to hearing Wells Fargo Center get loud, as the arena frequently hosts Villanova's high-profile home games.
But Hart has made it clear that the next few days in Philadelphia will be spent purely on business. One of the most consistent sources of Philadelphia cheers in the past decade, Hart is simply hoping the Sixers will shut up by the time tip-off arrives.
"I don't care, they're not. We're up 2-0," Hart said when asked about Sixers star Joel Embiid's claims that Philadelphia, not New York, should own a 2-0 series lead in video from SNY. "When the NBA starts basing the series on what we think, then I would care a little bit more. We're up 2-0, right now we're just focused on trying to get our third one."
Apr 22, 2024; New York, New York, USA; New York Knicks guard Josh Hart (3) shoots the ball as
Vincent Carchietta-USA TODAY Sports
Philadelphia has spent most of the series bemoaning officiating, especially after the chaotic ending to Game 2 on Monday night. While the Last Two Minute Report from that game offered slight vindication ... and perhaps forces the Knicks to be on their best behavior comes Thursday's game ... Philadelphia should look deep inside its Hart a party to blame.
In a season of heroes for the Knicks, few have stood stronger than Hart, far and away New York's 2024 postseason hero with the first couple down on the 16-win road to an NBA championship. Since Hart became a member of the Knicks on Feb. 8, 2023 (via a trade deadline deal with the Portland Trail Blazers), his new team is tied for the third-most wins in basketball (75 regular season and postseason). When Julius Randle went down, Hart became a walking triple-double. Now, with the playoffs in full swing, Hart is far and away the most efficient Knick with 43 points and 28 rebounds over the first two games against the Sixers.
It's perhaps easy for Hart to get lost in the fold thanks to a relative class clown persona. It's a side of him that has only amplified now that he's found residency amidst a nomadic career (the Knicks having locked him up for five seasons, including this one on the affordable player option that came with him from the Pacific Northwest) and has reunited with his literal schoolmates Brunson and DiVincenzo.
That probably makes Hart even that much more dangerous and the Sixers have been the victims of his carefree attitude in the deadliest way possible: coming off a career-worst three-point success rate in the regular season, Hart has let it fly from deep, hitting over 53 percent over the first two. Hart is also fully rewarding the Knicks' faith in standing pat when they let Obi Toppin go for a meager return, offering intriguing questions about Randle's future ... that will be answered at a later date.
Best of all, Hart knows when to get serious: his final comments before the Knicks face what could be one of their most fateful faceoffs of the new century saw him slip into a state of vengeance, one where he's hardly concerned about what Philadelphia throws at him.
Apr 22, 2024; New York, New York, USA; Philadelphia 76ers forward Tobias Harris (12) dribbles
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Hart's perpetual mind-your-business motion takes on different forms. If the Knicks prevail, for example, expect the crescendo of a packed box of Mike and Ike stashed in Hart's pocket to serve as the aftermath's soundtrack. Until then, however, it's all business, and Hart wouldn't have it any other way.
"You’ve got to continue to be aggressive, continue to take my shots when I’m open, continue to get out in transition, do a better job in transition, or either at least getting a shot up," Hart remarked, expecting Philadelphia to change its defensive plan on him after his opening breakout, per Kristian Winfield of the New York Daily News. "(I'm) just playing my game. Whatever they do, they do.”
Perhaps the Sixers should be more concerned about the Wildcat rather than the zebras.
