“We’ll take it.”
That was Josh Hart summing up the Knicks street journey to reporters late Tuesday night time, proper after they dispatched of the Blazers with a dominating fourth quarter.
Following 4 video games on the West Coast with out Jalen Brunson (who technically performed a half in Sacramento), the Knicks (41-31) completed 2-2 and reclaimed the fifth spot within the East from the plucky Nets.
“When you don’t have one of your best players, some teams just crumble,” Hart stated. “They go on a losing streak. So to finish the road trip .500, we’ll take it.”
With a uncommon three off-days earlier than the subsequent recreation, the hope is Brunson’s sore foot feels adequate to play in Saturday’s matinee at Madison Square Garden in opposition to the Nuggets.
So how did the Knicks, who’ve tied their most wins in a season since 2013, maintain the ship afloat with out the Eastern Conference’s Player of the Month? It was a collaborative effort however the overriding theme was pushing the tempo and scoring in transition. During the four-game journey, the Knicks averaged a league-high 20.3 factors on breakaways — shattering their season common of 12.1 breakaway factors per recreation.
Miles McBride was a stunning catalyst to 2 victories over the Lakers and Blazers, making the most of his first prolonged alternative in over a month. McBride’s 18 factors in Portland represented a career-high as he served because the point-guard reserve. Struggling from his outdoors shot early within the season, the second-year participant buried 6 of his 9 treys within the two victories.
“I knew my work is going to show. I’m just going to continue to do that,” McBride stated in his on-court postgame interview with MSG Network. “At some point they’re going to start falling.”
Hart was additionally a part of a bench crew that pulverized Portland, particularly within the fourth quarter. He stuffed the stat sheet in 37 minutes with 16 factors, 9 rebounds, eight assists and three steals.
In some methods, the efficiency was vindication for the Knicks and their commerce deadline deal. Hart severely outplayed Portland’s Cam Reddish, who scored simply two factors on 1-of-6 capturing in 19 minutes.
Reddish and Hart had been swapped final month and had been thriving individually forward of the matchup. Reddish, who had been parked on Tom Thibodeau’s bench whereas with the Knicks, informed the Daily News that his DNPs in New York had been the results of “favoritism” and “politics.”
But he exacted no revenge Tuesday, as an alternative absorbing a defeat that included the Blazers being outscored by 27 factors with Reddish on the court docket.
The Knicks, in the meantime, outscored the Blazers by 26 factors when Hart performed. The 28-year-old Hart, a member of the 2017 draft class, is gearing up for the primary playoff sequence of his profession.
“I’m in a new position here where I’m sitting here and we’re really playing for something,” Hart stated. “I haven’t really been in that position in my career. I think that’s making me more hungry and the rest of the guys in the locker room.”
He’ll take it.
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Source: www.bostonherald.com
