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Tim Bontemps
New York – after josh hart He had easily his best game of the season – scoring 14 points with 9 rebounds and 3 assists – in a 128–113 loss. new York Knicks overcome Chicago Bulls On Sunday night, the do-it-all forward admitted there is one thing he can’t do at the moment:
Get full feeling in his right (shooting) hand.
“Yeah, my nerves still aren’t quite what they used to be,” Hart said at his locker after the game. “So it’s a little tingling, a little numbness in part of my hand.
“Hopefully, at some point, that nerve will get back to where it was. Hopefully sooner rather than later, but right now it’s a process.”
It’s a process that has caused Hart to get off to a very slow start for the Knicks (3-3). After missing the first game of the season with a back problem – which caused him to miss the final few weeks of the preseason after a brief cameo in New York’s exhibition opener in Abu Dhabi – Hart scored a combined 11 points on 4-for-19 shooting (and 1-for-10 from 3-point range) in his first four games for the Knicks.
But Hart said his mindset coming into Sunday’s game against Chicago was to try to put all that stuff aside and focus on the thing that has made him such a fan favorite in New York: playing hard and with energy.
“For me, I’ve been through some adversity myself physically and mentally, so my biggest thing today was to go out there and play with energy,” Hart said. “Just coming back to myself.”
Although shooting remains an issue — he went 1 of 4 at 3 p.m. Sunday night — Hart’s energy and hustle were on full display Sunday.
“I saw Josh Hart,” teammate and close friend Jalen Brunsonwho led the Knicks with 31 points, said after Sunday’s game. “The one we know and love.”
Hart has spoken openly about how he is dealing with his right index finger injury, which was initially suffered during the playoffs and then aggravated shortly before training camp.
However, he has refused surgery, instead deciding to try to deal with the issue. He is also adjusting to a new role on the Knicks this season, going from a starter under former coach Tom Thibodeau to a full-time bench player under his successor, Mike Brown.
For his part, Brown said he was not aware that Hart had a neurological issue with his hand and instead credited Hart for playing through the injury and trying to gain momentum after missing several weeks of preparation time with the new coaching staff and new offensive system.
“This is news to me,” Brown said of Hart’s issues. ,[VP of Sports Medicine] How [Smith] We have handled it as much as we can, and Josh has also handled it. He had 14 and 9 tonight, so if he’s healthy, ‘Oh my God. Look outside.’
“He’s playing well. Again, he’s missed a lot of time, so he’s playing catch-up, and he’s doing a great job playing catch-up for us.”
