P&T Player of the Week for Feb. 26-Mar. 3: Josh Hart

Another week has come and gone, Knicks nation. It seems like the ship has been steadied a little bit, and help isn’t too far away.

Off the court, murmurs have been starting to surface about Julius Randle and OG Anunoby returning in mid-to-late-March. I had to do a double take at the calendar, but yes, that’s this month. There hasn’t been much about Mitchell Robinson’s return, but he too has been traveling with the team as of late. Slowly beginning to ramp up the trio’s activity is only a good sign, and hopefully all continue to move in the right direction.

On it, New York split the week evenly, going 2-2. A Monday/Tuesday back to back started off with a win vs. the Detroit Pistons in a game that was way more intense than it should have been. The game was a scrap the entire way through, but just as the Knicks were beginning to pull away, Quentin Grimes decided to turn up the revenge meter to 100. He scored all 12 of his points in the final frame, and put the Pistons ahead with just over thirty seconds to go. Despite this, the Knicks inexplicably snatched victory from the jaws of defeat with one of the craziest final sequences you’ll ever see at the NBA level (and a little help from the refs).

Just in case you missed it:

The Knicks must have been gassed after the game, because the following night the Pelicans blew them out, sans Brunson. What was a one point game at halftime turned into a blowout, as the Pelicans shot over 50% from the field and from long range to propel themselves to a 115-92 victory.

Golden State came to town next, and the Warriors jumped out to an early 14-0 lead and didn’t look back. The Splash Brothers combined to hit 12 threes, Jonathan Kuminga dominated at the rim, adding 25 points of his own, and a poor Knicks shooting night led to a 110-99 loss.

Finally, the Knicks’ week wrapped up on Sunday evening with a trip to Cleveland. The Cavs were without Donovan Mitchell and Caris LeVert, but the Knicks lost Jalen Brunson mere seconds into the matchup.

The Knicks ended up winning a grind it out game thanks to an inspired offensive effort, with dudes like Donte DiVincenzo, Bojan Bogdanovic, and Deuce McBride turning in excellent performances.

But the player of the game, and player of the week, is an easy call here. Josh Hart is the man keeping this team afloat, once again.

In last week’s article, I wrote about how the Knicks needed more out of Josh Hart. He wasn’t looking to score as much. He wasn’t contributing on the offensive end of the floor. People were beginning to question the value of his contract.

Well, he shut everyone up pretty quickly.

Hart tied his season high with 23 points against the Pistons, doing it on 8-17 shooting, going 3-5 from three. Add in 8 rebounds and 6 assists, and you have a sparkling performance capped by his game winner in the closing seconds.

The next night, Hart posted 15 points, 10 rebounds, and 5 assists in the Pelicans’ loss.

I’m not sure what Josh Hart did on Wednesday’s day off that activated something in him. His offensive aggressiveness stayed where it was. But his rebounding and playmaking reached new heights.

Against Golden State, Hart shot 4-17. Womp womp. Why is this guy player of the week, you may ask?

Check out the rest of that statline. 18 rebounds!!! 7 assists!!! Woah. Josh Hart is the heart and soul of this team. He’s what keeps them going.

He followed that up on Sunday night with this.

And some of this.

What an absurd triple double statline. What a clutch three down the stretch. And then SNATCHING DONOVAN MITCHELL’S CHAIN??

This guy was born for New York.

Have an easy couple of days, everyone. Same time next week.