OG Anunoby will join Julius Randle and Mitchell Robinson out of the lineup again for Friday’s Game 3, a scenario that forced Josh Hart into the starting lineup in the first place in late January.
But to Hart, Anunoby’s absence going forward after leaving the Knicks’ Game 2 win over the Pacers in the third quarter with a hamstring issue does not greatly alter his role as the second-round series shifts to Indianapolis.
“I’m playing 48 [minutes] anyways, dog. Ain’t s–t change,” Hart said after Wednesday’s comeback win at the Garden.
Indeed, Hart now has gone the distance in four of the Knicks’ first eight postseason games, including a 53-minute effort in an overtime loss to the 76ers in the first round.
He also became the first NBA player with back-to-back complete games since Jimmy Butler of the Bulls played every minute in three straight playoff contests in 2013 — twice against the Nets and once against the Heat.
The common denominator there is that both players were coached at the time by Tom Thibodeau.
“Thibs always asks me if I need [a break], and I always tell him no,” Hart said. “As a competitor, you want to play, you want to play every second. So that’s something that I want to do.”
The 29-year-old Hart has positively thrived despite the heavy workload, averaging 18.0 points, 12.8 rebounds and 5.3 assists in 46.8 minutes per game in the Knicks’ 6-2 start to the playoffs entering Game 3 against the Pacers.
With Jalen Brunson (foot) missing the final 16 minutes of the first half and Anunoby sitting out the final 15 of the second half with their respective injuries Wednesday, Hart finished with a 19-15-7 stat line in those categories in Game 2 while hitting 8 of 12 shots from the field.
“Honestly, [it’s] just rest, recovery, and then, my Lord works in mysterious ways. That’s all I’ve got to say,” Hart said. “[Wednesday] I felt like I didn’t have it at all. … But He allows you to walk and not faint. I felt like I didn’t have it, but like I said, he works in mysterious ways.”
Thibodeau also has convinced the Knicks to buy in to his “next-man- up” mantra all season, and Hart said it’s not purely lip service.
“I think we actually believe it. I think that’s what it is,” said Hart, who came off the bench in his first 39 appearances during the regular season before starting 42 games due to various injuries. “Obviously, you never want injuries and sometimes you say things just to give an answer and kind of get through it, but we actually believe that.
“There’s a lot of guys on this team that can start with other guys in this league, so when we say it, it’s not cliché. It’s not just we’re saying it just because it sounds good. We’re actually saying it because we believe it. I’ve got faith in every one of our guys. So with stuff like that, sometimes it sucks, it’s like damn we can’t catch a break. But we truly believe it’s next man up.”
