The Knicks were down by 21, their largest deficit of Friday night at the Garden, when Isaiah Hartenstein checked in for Mitchell Robinson with 3:40 remaining in the third quarter.
The backup center promptly had a pass picked off by Heat rookie Jaime Jaquez Jr., who fired a pass to streaking teammate Haywood Highsmith for what looked like it would be a breakaway dunk.
Hartenstein hustled into the backcourt, however, and swatted the slam attempt to energize a resigned home crowd.
Immanuel Quickley then buried a 3-pointer at the other end to ignite the furious comeback that resulted in a wild 100-98 win for the Knicks.
“What was all going through my mind is, I don’t really care what the score says. I made a mistake, so I just really wanted to make up for it,” Hartenstein said after Saturday’s practice in Tarrytown. “I think those plays really count, and I think that play really started our run.
“I think that was like a five-point swing right there … and I think that was one of the things that kind of helped us get going.”
With Robinson dealing with foul trouble, Hartenstein was on the court for the rest of the third quarter and the entirety of the fourth.
He helped the Knicks at both ends during a 38-15 closing run, despite finishing the game with just two points, five rebounds and the one blocked shot.
“I’ve said this, Isaiah’s played very well. The thing is, Mitch has played off the charts. Mitch’s foul trouble hurt him in this game,” Tom Thibodeau said. “But when Isaiah’s been in there, he does a lot of good things for us, as well. So, we, everyone has a lot of confidence in him
“I think it’s the hustle, the second and third effort type of plays, and his passing got us a couple easy buckets. I think that’s huge.”
Hartenstein used the words “energy” and “disruption” to describe his mindset in coming off the bench, especially at the Garden.
The Knicks’ regular four-man second unit — with Hartenstein, Quickley, Josh Hart and Donte DiVincenzo playing alongside one of the starters, often RJ Barrett — has developed an identity based on such hustle plays during the Knicks’ 9-6 start entering Sunday’s home game against the Suns.
“The Garden, you feel it regardless. I think that’s a special thing that you won’t get in a lot of places,” Hartenstein said. “But that sequence, you’re in the Garden, you’re down 20, a lot of teams in the NBA probably would be like, ‘Oh, we’re done.’
“But I kind of felt like we had a chance to come back. I was with a team with the Clippers where I think we came back, like, seven times from down 20, so you get kind of a look or a feeling where it’s like, ‘Oh, we have a chance.’ So I was on the bench, and I thought we had a chance when I came in.”
DiVincenzo, who is in his first season with the Knicks, believes Hartenstein’s block on Highsmith was an example that he was “thinking about the right things” despite the 21-point deficit.
“You look at the play. It was actually off of a turnover, off of a mistake, and you just watch what he does. He puts his head down and he sprints right back,” DiVincenzo said. “It just shows where his mindset is, it shows what he’s thinking about. He’s about the right things, and just something small like that — it’s small, but it’s not small.”
Hartenstein believes the Knicks have “a luxury” with two complementary centers who can impact the game in various ways, and DiVincenzo agreed.
“We have a lot of guys on the bench that can start, top to bottom,” DiVincenzo said. “Quick is Sixth Man of the Year in my opinion. He was a finalist last year.
“But to focus on Mitch and Isaiah, it’s a luxury because there’s a lot of good bigs, but not a lot of good backup bigs. I think we have both, and they give us two different dynamics with our offense. It’s almost like a different ball game when one’s out and the other one’s in. It allows us to change things up and get different looks.”