LAS VEGAS — The New York Knicks‘ run through the knockout stages and into Tuesday’s Emirates NBA Cup title game could have been put at risk before it even started. But a meeting between first-year coach Mike Brown and guard Josh Hart might have been the difference in keeping New York’s season on track.
After Hart started the year in a reserve role and was benched in the fourth quarter for multiple games in November, Brown called for a meeting with the 30-year-old veteran. It led to Hart’s reinsertion in the starting five and the Knicks winning nine of 10, re-establishing them as a power in the East.
«It was a blessing in disguise,» Brown told ESPN on Monday, a day before New York’s title game showdown against Victor Wembanyama and the San Antonio Spurs.
«I was open and honest. He hadn’t played a lot in the preseason because he got hurt early on, so I didn’t have a great feel for how to use him, when to use him, what his game was completely like.»
In that conversation, Brown said, Hart took accountability for not playing well, saying «we have standards.» Brown said the candor has helped their relationship develop.
«[Hart said] I’m one of the leaders on this team, I can’t think of myself in this situation. I have to let the process unfold.»
The emotions are often telegraphed on Hart’s face, as easily detectable as an errant pass he often intercepts. So when he grumbled to no one in particular following a 124-107 home loss to the Orlando Magic on Nov. 12, saying «I’ve never been benched twice in the fourth quarter,» on his way out of the Knicks’ locker room, it felt like the Knicks were on the verge of an early crisis.
Hart has been an emotional barometer since arriving at the 2023 trade deadline, but was battling his body and the changing dynamics with Brown, who took over this past summer after the franchise fired Tom Thibodeau. A severe nerve injury in Hart’s shooting hand rendered him ineffective, and Brown didn’t trust him like Thibodeau had — with Hart often going games with very little rest on the way to leading the NBA in minutes last season.
«A couple times I felt like I was going to snap,» Hart said of the frustration he felt during those late-game benchings.
At the time, Hart was playing fewer than 24 minutes per game and crossed the 30-minute threshold once. Knowing the Knicks were moving to a more modern offense, space is at a premium and Hart, only shooting 33% from 3-point range, wasn’t helping Brown succeed in his quest. Hart was already the casualty in the Knicks wanting to start Karl-Anthony Towns and Mitchell Robinson together, moving into a reserve role.
«It was the second or third time being benched in the fourth, so I was extremely frustrated. I tried to stay the course to have maturity and not … blow up.»
Who knows what would’ve happened if Hart had gone nuclear and confronted his coach. The Knicks’ season, which began with the expectation, if not the demand, to get to the Finals, could’ve capsized.
Brown, who was busy trying to integrate a new system with a group that had so much comfort playing with each other, had to manage this potential inflection point. The meeting helped the coach and player find common ground.
Hart, now back in the starting lineup, has been fully actualized in the Knicks’ run to the Cup final. In the 10 games since being back in the starting five, Hart has averaged 16 points, 9.2 rebounds, 5.7 assists and 2.1 steals in 35 minutes a night.
Hart’s style is somewhat of an acquired taste. At 6-foot-5, he’s tough enough to outrebound and outwork players five inches taller, and at times his best position is power forward. Brown had to harken back to his years as an assistant with Golden State, coaching Andre Iguodala as an indispensable cog in that dynastic machine.
Like Iguodala, who would be left open by defenses only to burn them for critical 3-pointers, Hart is making teams pay for putting centers on him — shooting 41% during that stretch and letting the opposing bench know about it.
«If you don’t understand basketball, it’s really hard to appreciate their games,» Brown said in Toronto after the Knicks’ blowout victory to advance to the Cup semifinals. «Sometimes you look at them [and say], ‘He can’t do this, he can’t do that.’
«It’s the opposite. Josh can do everything. There’s some things that he does that are elite.»
Both Brown and Hart mentioned having to adjust through the first quarter of the season. The Knicks have carried more tenets of the Thibodeau-lead group than the version Brown idealized upon his arrival.
Subsequently, that means leaning more on Hart.
«He was still learning me, I was still learning him. I had to be patient with it,» Hart said. «You don’t always need to say something. Humility, letting things fall as they may and not always feeling the need to blow up.»
