NOT HALF BAD
After Knicks split road trip minus Jalen, Hart says ‘we’ll take it’
“We’ll take it.”
That was Josh Hart summing up the Knicks road trip to reporters late Tuesday night, right after they dispatched of the Blazers with a dominating fourth quarter.
Following four games on the West Coast without Jalen Brunson (who technically played a half in Sacramento), the Knicks (41-31) finished 2-2 and reclaimed the fifth spot in the East from the plucky Nets.
“When you don’t have one of your best players, some teams just crumble,” Hart said. “They go on a losing streak. So to finish the road trip .500, we’ll take it.”
With a rare three off-days before the next game, the hope is Brunson’s sore foot feels good enough to play in Saturday’s matinee at Madison Square Garden against the Nuggets.
So how did the Knicks, who have tied their most wins in a season since 2013, keep the ship afloat without the Eastern Conference’s Player of the Month? It was a collaborative effort but the overriding theme was pushing the pace and scoring in transition. During the four-game trip, the Knicks averaged a leaguehigh 20.3 points on breakaways — shattering their season average of 12.1 breakaway points per game.
Miles McBride was a surprising catalyst to two victories over the Lakers and Blazers, taking advantage of his first extended opportunity in over a month. McBride’s 18 points in Portland represented a career-high as he served as the point-guard reserve. Struggling from his outside shot early in the season, the second-year player buried 6 of his 9 treys in the two victories.
“I knew my work is going to show. I’m just going to continue to do that,” McBride said in his on-court postgame interview with MSG Network. “At some point they’re going to start falling.”
Hart was also part of a bench crew that pulverized Portland, especially in the fourth quarter. He filled the stat sheet in 37 minutes with 16 points, nine rebounds, eight assists and three steals.
In some ways, the performance was vindication for the Knicks and their trade deadline deal. Hart severely outplayed Portland’s Cam Reddish, who scored just two points on 1-of-6 shooting in 19 minutes.
Reddish and Hart were swapped last month and were thriving individually ahead of the matchup. Reddish, who had been parked on Tom Thibodeau’s bench while with the Knicks, told the Daily News that his DNPs in New York were the result of “favoritism” and “politics.”
But he exacted no revenge Tuesday, instead absorbing a defeat that included the Blazers being outscored by 27 points with Reddish on the court.
The Knicks, meanwhile, outscored the Blazers by 26 points when Hart played. The 28-yearold Hart, a member of the 2017 draft class, is gearing up for the first playoff series of his career.
“I’m in a new position here where I’m sitting here and we’re really playing for something,” Hart said. “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.