Madison Square Garden went electric when the Knicks’ customary spark went out.
As the Knicks mounted a miraculous 22-point comeback to steal a 115-104 overtime win over the Cavaliers in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals, Josh Hart was glued to the bench for nearly the entire fourth quarter and the extra session due to his shaky shooting, as Mike Brown turned to Landry Shamet down the stretch.
Shamet validated the decision by hitting a game-tying corner 3-pointer in the final minute of regulation, then added another in overtime, finishing with a team-best plus-20 rating.
Hart, who finished with 13 points, seven rebounds and four assists, posted a team-worst minus-23 rating in 30 minutes after making just one of five 3-pointers, but the aesthetics were worse than the numbers.
Hart was efficient when he attacked the paint, repeatedly beating Cleveland with a series of spin moves, but the streaky shooter received no respect from Cavaliers coach Kenny Atkinson, whose defenders slouched off him on the perimeter.
Hart missed each of his first four 3-pointers — one barely grazed the rim, another’s flight path barely went above the rim, another hit nothing — as the Knicks missed 17 of their 19 attempted 3-pointers in the first half.
Before the playoffs began, Brown noted he was aware that Hart might be tested despite the 31-year-old making a career-high 41.3 percent of 3-pointers this season. And despite Hart’s benching fueling a historic comeback, the Knicks coach didn’t believe his starter’s confidence should be shaken.
“If Josh is open, he’s gotta let it fly,” Brown said after the win. “He’s made shots. We feel like he’ll make shots. If he doesn’t want to shoot it, he can get to his middie or [dribble handoff] with somebody. Josh, we faced this coverage all year. And played well throughout the course of the year. And faced it in Atlanta. We started the game off 2-for-19 from the 3-point line. … If those go in, the mojo is a little bit different.”
Three years ago, Hart — who had been acquired in February 2023 — helped the Knicks earn their first postseason series victory in a decade, against the Cavaliers, with extraordinary defense against Donovan Mitchell and 5-for-11 shooting on 3-pointers, including a go-ahead shot from outside in the final minutes of their Game 1 win in Cleveland.
Usually, when Hart goes cold, the Knicks go with him.
In the 2023 second-round loss to No. 8 seed Miami, Hart shot 5-for-21 on 3-pointers. When the Knicks fell apart in the second round against the Pacers in 2024, Hart went 6-for-22 from deep. And last year, Hart shot 2-for-11 in the Knicks’ first conference finals appearance in a quarter century.
In this postseason run, Hart has been a constant on both ends of the floor, filling up every column of the boxscore.
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But his shooting has remained erratic.
He was just 5-for-23 from 3-point range in the first round against the Hawks and was 2-for-11 through the first three games against the 76ers, before hitting four of six in the second-round clincher.
The Cavs are certain to return to the one strategy that worked.
“I got to go out there, shoot the ball with confidence,” Hart, who wasn’t available to the media after the win, said recently. “I’m a good shooter, I know I’m a good shooter. I trust my work.”
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