Josh Hart makes his fourth-quarter return worthwhile in historic Knicks performance

Josh Hart sat on the bench for the entire fourth quarter just two days ago.

On Friday, he played the entire fourth quarter and was key to the Knicks’ 140-132 victory over the Heat at Madison Square Garden.

And he did so in a historic way.

He recorded a triple-double with 12 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists.

It was his 16th triple-double with the Knicks, tying Richie Guerin for third-most in franchise history. He trails only Walt Frazier (23) and the late Michael Ray Richardson (18) on the list.

Without Jalen Brunson, who was out with a sprained ankle, Hart also played an important role as a ball handler.

“He went 4-for-4 on 50/50 balls,” head coach Mike Brown said. “We won the possession game, barely, we needed all those 50/50 balls he came up with. Great job by Josh who gets a triple-double tonight.”

Hart didn’t play at all during the fourth quarter of the Knicks’ loss to the Magic on Wednesday and appeared upset afterward. On Friday, he was the energizer the Knicks have become accustomed to.

Brown inserted Miles McBride into the starting lineup in Brunson’s place. McBride finished with nine points and four assists.

Tyler Kolek, the only true point guard other than Brunson on the roster, did not play. He started the year as Brunson’s main backup, but fell out of the rotation.

Landry Shamet (36) and Jordan Clarkson (24) became the first Knicks pair with 20 or more points off the bench since 2021.

Brown used zone defense more on Friday than he has all season.

“We had trouble protecting them off the dribble,” Brown said. “We just wanted to try to give them a different look, take them out of rhythm a little bit. The reality is, we worked on the zone one day, and it wasn’t the zone we used tonight. We just threw the zone together. Our guys didn’t do a great job, a great job of reacting and reacting to the zone that we called on the spot.”

Brown went out of his way to praise his assistants for their contributions to Friday’s win.

“My damn staff was incredible,” Brown said. “Chris Jent was fantastic. Rick Brunson was fantastic. Brendan O’Conner, they were all very good and they were there to help me with substitutions, mixing in zone, figuring out where to go offensively with the ball.”