Knicks’ Josh Hart wants to fix his wayward shot — his wonky knee won’t let him
LOS ANGELES — Josh Hart’s conundrum is juggling his lingering knee pain and trying to fix his wayward 3-point shot.
As the Knicks forward revealed Thursday, the obvious solution of more practice has become more difficult while his knee is screaming for rest.
“I think it’s more not being able to put the extra work in like I did earlier in the year. The mechanics are off,” Hart said. “I think that’s mostly what it is, a tweak here, a tweak there. Obviously doing those tweaks, that only gets cemented by repetition.
“If you’re not able to do the repetition obviously it’s hard to cement that.”
Hart’s 3-point efficiency has been in a deep decline for over a month. He entered Thursday shooting just 15.7% in his last 13 appearances, including just 1-for-7 since Feb. 12.
The drop coincided with Hart’s knee flareups and two missed games around the All-Star break for patellofemoral pain syndrome, also known as runner’s knee.
Lately, Hart has been on the injury report for knee effusion, or swelling.
“I will take a couple of days off, feel good, go out and shoot for 10 minutes and then it swells up again,” Hart said. ”It’s just a constant process of playing, resting, getting that inflammation out, and then just cut and paste and keep doing it.”
Still, Hart has missed just two games this season and entered Thursday at No. 3 in the NBA in total minutes played, behind only Mikal Bridges and Anthony Edwards.
He was also enjoying arguably his best offensive season while averaging 14.4 points, 9.6 rebounds and 5.7 assists.
But Hart’s 3-point shooting has fallen lately under the microscope because of a dip in attempts and efficiency.
Defenses, as a result, are getting more comfortable leaving Hart open on the perimeter, hurting New York’s 5-out spacing.
“If I’m out there, I’m healthy enough. I think I’ve had to sacrifice some of the other work, putting in to try to focus on the recovery aspect (of my knee) and those kinds of things,” Hart said. “Me, I value availability over everything else. I’ve got to think about whether I’m at that point where should I ramp up the court work to make sure I’m sharp or maybe I have to sit some stuff out? Right now, it’s that constant battle. I’m trying to figure out the balance between giving myself rest and getting that rest, but also trying to stay sharp.”
With the playoffs a little more than a month away, Hart is debating the best approach. Should he worry more about the knee or his shot?
“After a game sometimes depending on how it’s feeling, with the swelling and all, it’s hard to go out there and get reps and shoot 100, 200, 300 threes,” Hart said. “So sometimes I have to sacrifice that. A little bit of confidence (becoming a factor), but also it has a negative effect — you’re not that sharp.
“Maybe I just have to flip it or have a better balance in that aspect and get to the end of the year.”
Still, Hart doesn’t want to attach his personal success singularly to his shot. He’s also developed into one of the team’s top facilitators and is fifth on the team in shot attempts per game.
“You see I go out there and I didn’t have 10 points and 10 rebounds, you go, he didn’t have a good day. But you don’t realize everything else, the human aspect of it,” Hart said. “You don’t know the role that you play behind the scenes. For me, I’m a connector. So sometimes I have to sacrifice stuff to make sure other guys are involved. People don’t see that. They just see numbers and try to piece together stuff, but they don’t realize that everything is not just a cut-and-paste kind of thing.
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“You have other roles where you have to make sure everyone around you is good.”
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Karl-Anthony Towns (knee) off injury report Sunday
by Leo Sells | Knicks Correspondent | Sat, Mar 1st 5:46pm EST
Karl-Anthony Towns (knee) is off of the injury report for Sunday’s game against the Miami Heat. (NBA Injury Report)
Fantasy Impact:
The star big man will be available to play on Sunday. He was previously dealing with a knee injury, but it’s not serious and he is off of the injury report for Sunday’s game. He projects to be an elite fantasy option for however long he remains healthy and on the court for New York.
Category: Injury Updates | More Karl-Anthony Towns: News, Rankings, Stats
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Knicks vs. Heat Injury Report – March 2
As they gear up to square off against the Miami Heat (28-30) on Sunday, March 2 at Kaseya Center, with tip-off at 6 p.m. ET, the New York Knicks (39-20) have three players currently listed on the injury report. The Heat’s injury report has four players on it.
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Knicks Injuries:
Ariel Hukporti: Out (Knee),
Josh Hart: Probable (Knee),
Mitchell Robinson: Probable (Ankle)
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Heat Injuries:
Dru Smith: Out For Season (Achilles),
Nikola Jovic: Out (Hand),
Jaime Jaquez Jr.: Day-To-Day (Ankle),
Andrew Wiggins: Day-To-Day (Ankle)
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Knicks vs. Heat Game Info
Knicks’ Injury Report
Knicks’ Top Players (Last 20 Games)
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Heat’s Injury Report
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| Name | PTS | REB | ASST | STL | BLK | 3PM |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jalen Brunson | 28.0 | 3.0 | 7.2 | 1.2 | 0.2 | 2.5 |
| Karl-Anthony Towns | 19.7 | 10.4 | 2.6 | 0.9 | 0.5 | 1.6 |
| Josh Hart | 13.5 | 9.7 | 5.6 | 1.4 | 0.3 | 0.5 |
| Mikal Bridges | 17.1 | 2.9 | 3.6 | 0.8 | 0.8 | 2.2 |
| Precious Achiuwa | 8.2 | 6.3 | 1.3 | 1.3 | 0.9 | 0.2 |
| Name | PTS | REB | ASST | STL | BLK | 3PM |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tyler Herro | 21.9 | 4.3 | 6.3 | 1.0 | 0.2 | 2.7 |
| Bam Adebayo | 17.6 | 9.7 | 3.6 | 0.6 | 0.5 | 0.9 |
| Kel’el Ware | 11.2 | 9.9 | 1.5 | 0.7 | 1.1 | 0.8 |
| Nikola Jovic | 10.6 | 3.3 | 3.3 | 0.7 | 0.3 | 1.9 |
| Duncan Robinson | 10.9 | 2.5 | 2.6 | 0.6 | 0.1 | 2.5 |
