The Knicks, despite Game 7 loss, are a franchise with a future: ‘We’ve built a foundation’

NEW YORK — With three minutes left in Game 7, Josh Hart did something he almost never does. He moved slowly.

He’d just discarded Andrew Nembhard, sending the Pacers guard to the floor while jockeying for rebounding position. In the process, he picked up his sixth foul, granting him an early exit — all too rare for the iron man who, for the moment, leads the 2024 postseason in minutes played — and one last walk across the hardwood before the long summer into which Indiana sent the Knicks with a 130-109 blowout in a somber Sunday matinee at Madison Square Garden.

Hart made his way across the timeline, over to the Knicks bench, receiving praise and plaudits — from the sold-out crowd of 19,812 chanting his name, from head coach Tom Thibodeau, from Fat Joe sitting courtside, from his standing teammates — before taking a seat at the end of New York’s bench.

“I came here last year — I think it was like my fourth team, my sixth coach, fourth franchise. I wanted a home,” said Hart, who finished with 10 points, 8 rebounds, 5 assists and 2 steals before fouling out. “And obviously the front office believed in me and gave me a contract, and Thibs played me, and the city embraced me. For me, that means a lot, and the only way I can repay them is to put my body on the line, give everything I have, and leave my heart on that court.”

Hart’s path took him past OG Anunoby, the late-December addition whose arrival seemed to transform the Knicks from a scrappy hopeful into a bona fide contender. The Knicks had gone 26-5 with Anunoby in the lineup before a hamstring strain knocked him out for Games 3 through 6 of this second-round series against Indiana. He returned for a do-or-die Game 7, hoping to will his balky wheel to push New York over the hump, past the Pacers and to their first Eastern Conference finals since 2000.

“I just wanted to play,” Anunoby said. “I wanted to try. Like, at least try to help my teammates. We’ve been working really hard, so I wanted to be out there.”

He did, but he couldn’t stay. Despite making his first two shots, it was clear immediately that Anunoby couldn’t move…

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Author : Yahoo Sports

Publish date : 2024-05-20 02:40:55

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