Josh Hart Backs Knicks Coach '100 Percent'

It'll take a lot more than one unfortunate lack of timeout for Josh Hart to stop hearting New York Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau.

Facing a crucial Game 6 as the Knicks face the Detroit Pistons in the Eastern Conference quarterfinals, Hart tackled the new criticism levied at Thibodeau amidst metropolitan prep, offering another vote of confidence to his tenured boss.

“He’s used to it, bullseye on his back for that," Hart said, per Kristian Winfield of the New York Daily News. "He’s had a bullseye on his back the whole season for minutes, rotations, all kinds of stuff. That’s our coach. We’re going to back him 100 percent.”

Hart was inadvertently at the center of the latest metropolitan playoff controversy.

Forced to briefly leave the late stages of the Knicks' Game 5 Tuesday tilt with the Pistons with an injury, Hart and a similarly inconvenienced Jalen Brunson were relegated to sitting by the scorer's table for the final stages of what became a 106-103 defeat that extended the series. The Knicks had one timeout and no fouls to give and Thibodeau would refer to his inactivity a "coach's decision."

Some have theorized that Thibodeau could be coaching for his job on this latest Knick playoff trip, his fourth in five seasons at the New York helm. Don't count Hart among that group, as he praised the way Thibodeau has juggled the Knicks' respective talents on this ongoing championship trek.

“Everyone is on this team because we have faith and trust in them, and I think that’s a byproduct of [Thibodeau's supervision]," Hart said, per Winfield. "We got stops. We got good looks. What more do you want besides getting stops and getting good looks for good players? I don’t know.”

Backing Thibodeau has become a recurring act of this Knicks playoff run from the get-go: Thibodeau continues to face scrutiny for his excessive workloads placed upon his starters and his late-game management but his most prominent proteges have continued to stand in his corner.

"I'll say, Individually, he's meant a lot to my career," Brunson said prior to the postseason's tip-off in video from SNY. "There's a lot of players who can say they've definitely benefited from Tom Thibodeau in his career. But I think, as a team, we're always in a position where we compete in the postseason, since I've been here. He's a very prepared individual. He's done a lot for my career. So I'm always looking to support him."

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