The Knicks welcomed back OG Anunoby on Friday night after the wing missed three weeks with a hamstring injury, but the situation that he found himself returning to was not the one that he’d left. In his stead, Josh Hart had re-entered the starting lineup and recaptured his old magic while the Knicks had won six of their last eight games. When it was announced that Anunoby would be returning, there were plenty of questions surrounding who would start and how seamlessly the pieces would all fit together.
For one night, the answer was a resounding “Just right,” as the Knicks were challenged in a 146-112 win over the Utah Jazz at Madison Square Garden.
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Before Anunoby’s injury, the 28-year-old wing was thriving in new head coach Mike Brown’s system. Anunoby was averaging 15.8 points, 5.6 rebounds, 2.2 assists, and 1.9 steals per game while shooting 47.6% from the field and 39.2% from beyond the arc. He was playing elite defense on the wing and, through 12 games, seemed on track to be selected to his first career All-Star game.
But not all of his teammates were enjoying as much success.
The beginning of the year had not been kind to Josh Hart. When the season began, there were a few questions surrounding the man who seemingly never left the floor under the previous head coach, Tom Thibodeau. With a new sheriff in town, it was announced that Mitchell Robinson would enter the starting lineup, pushing Karl-Anthony Towns to the power forward role and moving Josh Hart to the bench. Then, in training camp, Hart aggravated a nerve injury in the ring finger of his shooting hand, which causes his finger to swell and go numb, obviously impacting his shooting and ball-handling. Hart decided to delay surgery until after the season, but the results were not good early in the year.
In the first 10 games of the season, Hart averaged 8.4 points, 6.2 rebounds, 3.7 assists, and 0.8 steals in 23.8 minutes per night. He was shooting 44.4% from the field (33.3% from deep) with a 51% effective field goal rate. On top of his offensive struggles, he was posting an uncharacteristically poor 116.1 defensive rating and a 10.1 Player Impact Estimate, which is kind of like basketball’s version of WAR (Wins Above Replacement). He seemed frustrated by his performance and his role, and there was some worry that he might not fit into Mike Brownâ€s new system as well as he had under Thibodeau.
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Still, the Knicks were 7-3 in those games. Mitchell Robinson was proving to be perhaps the best offensive rebounder in the league, and the new offensive system that stressed ball movement and a drive-and-kick philosophy had led to strong starts for Anunoby and Bridges. It seemed like this was the way things would continue, until Anunoby hurt his hamstring just five minutes into an NBA Cup game against the Miami Heat on November 14th.
That game proved to be a turning point for Hart. The 30-year-old was asked to play more minutes with Jalen Brunson already out with an ankle injury, and Anunoby leaving the game. But Hart responded, putting up a triple-double with 12 points, 11 rebounds, and 10 assists as the Knicks won 140-132.
Over his next nine games, including that NBA Cup performance, Hart averaged 15.7 points, 9.4 rebounds, 6.4 assists, and 1.8 steals in 34.3 minutes per game. He shot 55.3% from the field (45% from deep) with a 65% effective field goal rate. His defensive rating also improved to 113.7, and his Player Impact Estimate was up to 14.6.
His performance did not go unnoticed as head coach Mike Brown blamed himself for Hartâ€s poor start: “Iâ€ll take the hit on that…The tough part was, even backing up further, [Hart] didnâ€t really play in the preseason; he didnâ€t even really practice in the preseason. So, for me, I was behind the eight ball and was really trying to figure out how to incorporate him with what weâ€re trying to do. It just took time, and he was extremely patient with the process…His sacrifice was unbelievable because when I took him out, he just sat. When I called his number, he went out and played. But more importantly, his belief in the process, even if he thought I was wrong, was awesome.â€
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That belief wasn’t only rewarded with improved performance but with a return to the starting lineup. Hart started the last five games coming into Friday’s contest, and Coach Brown credited his coaching staff with helping him adjust: “You know, I had reasons why I started the other way [with Hart coming off the bench],†explained Brown after Wednesdayâ€s win against the Hornets. “But my staff, I think all of them, were like, ‘Hey, these are the reasons why it would be better.†And the reality of it is, I just listened to my staff. I said, Okay, if Iâ€m the only one thinking that other way may be better at that time, then maybe Iâ€m wrong.â€
Given all of that, when Anunoby was cleared to play tonight, Coach Brown made the decision to start Hart alongside him, pushing Robinson to the bench and using the starting lineup that the Knicks had used for most of the 2024-25 season. While some of that could have been impacted by the fact that Robinson himself doesn’t seem to be 100% healthy, it was also a nod to how well Hart had been playing and how much he means to the team.
For one night, against a poor Jazz team, the new/old starting lineup worked. The Knicks led 23-0 to start the game and never looked back.
Neither Hart nor Anunoby was particularly impactful on the offensive end in that first quarter. Hart scored two points but grabbed three rebounds and dished out one assist, while Anunoby posted three points with no other stats. More importantly, the offense clearly flowed well, and both players were solid defensively. Anunoby would go on to finish with 11 points, one assist, and no rebounds in 23 rusty minutes. Still, he was back out on the court, and that’s what mattered most.
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“It felt good,” Anunoby said after the game about being back on the court. “Missed playing with my teammates. Missed the fans. I missed it, it was really fun playing.”
Hart finished with eight points, six rebounds, six assists, and a steal in 28 minutes. Most of the Knicks’ starters sat for the fourth quarter, with not a single starter playing in the final eight minutes of the game.
At the end of the day, it was one game against one of the weaker teams in the NBA, but it seems that the Knicks are preparing for life with both Hart and Anunoby in the starting five yet again. As a whole, that lineup was the eighth most effective five-man lineup, based on net rating, of any lineup the Knicks used for at least 60 minutes last season. There were only 12 qualified lineups. That lineup also had the third-worst defensive rating.
Yet, coming into Friday’s game, that same lineup had played 40 minutes together this season and had the fourth-highest net rating of the nine qualified Knicks lineups. It also had the fourth-best defensive rating.
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Perhaps in a new system, this five-man lineup could have new life. It seems like we’ll get a chance to find out.
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