Any lingering concern about Josh Hart’s preseason — when he scored just two total points and said he felt “lost” on offense — had all but evaporated by the time he stood in the Knicks locker room after their win Friday, tilted his head in between questions to catch glimpses of the World Series game and joked about his past comment.
“I was just having fun with y’all, man,” Hart, who scored 20 points against the Pacers in the Knicks’ 123-98 home-opening win. “I knew I was going to be solid. It was preseason. I have a good feel for everybody. I think we’re all really getting into a rhythm offensively and, more importantly, defensively — playing with each other, seeing where everyone likes the ball and those kind of things. I’m good.”
So that eliminates a Knicks worry for now.
Last season, Hart didn’t record his first double-double until Dec. 20, and he didn’t hit 20 points until Feb. 8.
But against the Pacers, Hart collected his points across 15 attempts — nine more shots than he took the entire preseason — and four free throws, while adding 10 rebounds, three assists and a steal.
It followed a season opener against the Celtics when Hart had 12 points and four rebounds, though he said Friday that he “felt like I didn’t bring it defensively or with energy.”
That changed in the first quarter, when Hart helped turn a broken play into a Karl-Anthony Towns dunk by tipping the ball to Mikal Bridges after Indiana’s Andrew Nembhard tried to save it from going out of bounds.
That allowed Bridges to snag possession near the corner and push toward the basket.
And when the Pacers’ extra help slid over, that left Towns alone on the right block.
Then, in the opening minutes of the second frame, Hart collected a defensive rebound in traffic and pushed the ball the entire length of the court for a transition layup.
Those were the contributions the Knicks became used to seeing after they acquired Hart ahead of the 2023 deadline, the plays that made him an indispensable — and versatile — lineup piece through the last two playoff runs even as some of the players around him changed.
Hart’s tone in the preseason suggested something had gone awry.
He expressed a similar sentiment last November with a line about not feeling “included” on offense, but this time he’d even floated the idea of joining the second unit and giving someone else a look in his spot.
Jalen Brunson took responsibility and blamed himself for the starting five, which included a pair of newcomers in Bridges and Towns, not being on the same page.
But after Friday, Hart seems to have already made that a distant Knicks memory.
“He just talks to talk,” Brunson said jokingly. “He’s one person I don’t worry about at all. He just doesn’t know when to stop talking.”