At halftime of Tuesday’s game against the Charlotte Hornets, the New York Knicks seemed in complete control, leading 66-50. The second half was a much different story.
Charlotte narrowed the gap with a dominant third quarter, winning it 37-23. The Hornets then outscored the Knicks 25-16 in the fourth quarter to come away with a 112-105 win.
Like Charlotte, New York did not play on Monday. But in the Knicks went to double overtime in Sunday’s win over the Boston Celtics. Given the meltdown in the second half, it’s fair to wonder if New York was simply tired.
But Knicks guard Josh Hart didn’t allow that to be an excuse. Hart took the opposite path, saying “I don’t think we can blame this on fatigue.”
“It’s a reality but the reality also is, our job is to play basketball,” Hart said after the game, in a video shared on SNY’s Knicks Videos Twitter page. And it’s — you got people getting up at 6 a.m. doing 12-hour shifts. Those guys are tired. For us, we’re playing a game. And obviously we’re fortunate enough to play a game like this. But we have to keep that in perspective. We’ve got to go out and compete, and play a game that we love and compete at the highest level.”
Josh Hart isn't using fatigue as an excuse for the Knicks' loss tonight:
"Our job is to play basketball. You've got people getting up at 6 am doing 12-hour shifts. Those guys are tired." pic.twitter.com/mG5qGFBYbT
— Knicks Videos (@sny_knicks) March 8, 2023
Hart’s response was endearing to a lot of fans.
Josh Hart is FOR THE PEOPLE https://t.co/e1a4rbkI7O
— Knicks Memes (@KnicksMemes) March 8, 2023
Ok I’m now a Josh Hart Stan https://t.co/RNcKnxJjf5
— Staterunstheknicks (@bmorelikestate) March 8, 2023
Josh Hart just cut the Knicks version of the Dusty Rhodes “Hard Times” promo https://t.co/6VVAC1NQ4n pic.twitter.com/upzpKZYf8u
— doug b, practically a future all star (@duglust) March 8, 2023
This guy @joshhart gets it… https://t.co/bXKaqbP5Mo
— Sher Kirpalani (@IndianMelo) March 8, 2023
