It wasn’t that long ago that Josh Hart looked lost, especially during his shooting spree.
He was visibly emotional during the Knicks’ loss to the Bulls on October 31, subsequently revealing that he was suffering from nerve damage in his shooting hand.
He stated that he personally had the biggest adjustment under head coach Mike Brown, and it showed. He struggled to contain his frustration.
But he seems to have put it all behind him.
He had by far his best performance of the season in Wednesday night’s 137-114 win over the Timberwolves at the Garden, tallying a season-high 18 points, five rebounds and four assists.
The most promising development was his shooting: he went 7-of-12 from the field and a stellar 4-of-5 from 3-point range. They weren’t all catch-and-shoot either; two of them were pull-ups off the dribble.
Hart teamed with Deuce McBride to carry a bench unit that has become a weapon for the Knicks. McBride added 14 points on 6-for-10 shooting from the field.
“I have to give Deuce a lot of credit,” Brown said. “Deuce was aggressive in the right way. He played under control. When they tried to get full court, he would drive by him. He would touch the paint. He would play two [feet] and he sprayed it. And the guys looked great when he got us on our offensive. Josh was also a big catalyst in trying to get us to pick up the pace and play the right way.”
More production off the bench was a major selling point for Brown.
Lately the results have been excellent.
The Knicks bench defeated the Timberwolves reserves 53-26. That kind of advantage was almost unheard of under Tom Thibodeau.
In fact, the most the Knicks bench ever scored in a game last year was 52 points.
Thibodeau’s bench scored 40 or more points only four times last year.
Brown’s bench has already scored 40 points twice in the past three years.
In addition to Hart and McBride, Jordan Clarkson recorded seven points, Guerschon Yabusele five, Ariel Hukporti four, Landry Shamet three and Mohamed Diawara two.
Tyler Kolek appears to have lost his spot in the rotation.
He was given a run to start the year to prove he can handle the duties of backup point guard.
But his minutes have disappeared over the last two games, only seeing action during garbage time.
Instead, Brown appears to trust Hart and McBride to handle most of the ball-handling duties for the second unit.
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