Josh Hart and his New York Knicks are set to host the Indiana Pacers in Game 5 of their Eastern Conference Semifinals series Tuesday night.
New York finds itself tied at two after winning the first couple games inside Madison Square Garden. Injuries have played a major role in the Pacers tying up the series. Most recently, star forward OG Anunoby went down with a hamstring injury back in Game 2.
This has led to the resurfacing of criticism directed at Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau for playing his stars too many minutes. In fact, Hart himself is averaging 44.1 minutes per game in the NBA Playoffs.
Apparently, he’s not too upset about that fact. The underrated three-and-D wing pushed back in a big way against Thibodeau criticism ahead of Game 5.
“You expect ignorance when people have no idea what goes on in this building. People love to have a narrative or a label and run with it. None of those guys are here watching us practice. None of those guys are watching what we do. At the end of the day, seventh year of my career, I’ve probably had more off days than I’ve had in other days.
We don’t go contact in practice. Everyone thinks we do three-hour practices of scrimmaging. It’s idiotic to put (the Knicks’ injury woes) on him. He’s not going to say anything about it. He’s going to take it on the chin and keep on moving.”
Josh Hart on criticism of Tom Thibodeau, via the NY Post
Whether Anunoby’s injury had anything to do with him playing too many minutes remains to be seen. What we do know is that Julius Randle and Mitchell Robinson are also out for the playoffs due to injuries. It’s led to major issues when talking about the Knicks’ depth.
Related: Surprising new report on Tom Thibodeau and his impact on the New York Knicks
- Josh Hart stats (2024 NBA Playoffs): 15.6 PPG, 12.3 RPG, 4.8 APG, 46% shooting
As you can see, Hart continues to play pretty good basketball despite seeing a ton of minutes. That came to an end on Sunday with the Knicks losing to Indiana by the score of 121-89. The wing scored just two points on 1-of-6 shooting in 24 minutes of action.
It will be interesting to see what happens on this front Game 5 Tuesday evening. But one thing is clear. Don’t expect Thibs to change up his coaching philosophy as a way to pacify critics.