Steve Popper: Knicks' Josh Hart proving to be right fit against Atlanta's Jalen Johnson
Knicks guard Josh Hart drives on Atlanta Hawks guard CJ McCollum in the third quarter during Game 1 of the Eastern Conference first round at Madison Square Garden on Saturday. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
GREENBURGH — On paper, it doesn’t make sense.
The Knicks’ front office made moves in recent years to acquire a pair of wing defenders — 6-8 OG Anunoby and 6-6 Mikal Bridges — with the size and skill set to take on the most dangerous players in the game. And in the Knicks’ current first-round playoff series, the most dangerous offensive player for the Atlanta Hawks is 6-8 Jalen Johnson, an All-Star who could become an All-NBA selection, too.
And the Knicks opted to put Josh Hart — who has been listed even at the official NBA site by conflicting numbers (6-5 this season, 6-4 at times) — on Johnson, both in the final meeting of the regular season between the teams and in Game 1 of the playoffs on Saturday night as the Knicks took a 113-102 decision.
So maybe you wouldn’t blame Hart if he wandered over to Mike Brown and reminded the coach that he has a couple of more viable options.
“Nah, man, that’s not me,” Hart said after Sunday’s practice as the Knicks prepared for Monday night’s Game 2 at Madison Square Garden. “My job is to go out there and guard who they tell me to guard. So that’s what I try to do.”
Hart has done that, making up for what he gives up in height — and arguably athleticism — to Johnson and limiting him in his time as the primary defender to 2-for-7 shooting when they met in the regular season two weeks ago and 3-for-7 Saturday.
Hart makes up for what he lacks in size with smarts, constantly shifting under screens, forcing Johnson to decide whether to fire up a long pull-up three-point attempt or to try to force his way around him. And so far the Knicks have been able to contain the dangerous Johnson, who led Atlanta with 22.5 points per game this season.
“I don’t know,” Hart said. “Just trying to be physical. Obviously, he’s a really good player. He’s what, 6-8, 6-9? So I’m 6-4 — apparently I lost an inch. I used to be 6-5, so I’m even smaller this year. Just trying to be physical, try not to let him get to those spots where he can use his height and athleticism over me. He’s obviously a really good player, so just trying to do what I can.”
Said Brown, “One of the things Jalen is really good at is the pick-and-roll game, and he does a great job rejecting screens and making it hard to anybody playing the pick-and-roll game. So we just wanted to see if we can cause a little confusion. Just as much as putting Josh on Jalen, it’s OG on [Onyeka] Okongwu . . .
“You’re not gonna stop those two guys, they’re gonna do what they do, but you hope to temper them a little bit or at least have a chance to control it a little bit.
“And tell you what, my staff has been — not good — they’ve been absolutely fantastic. Brendan O’Connor and Darren Erman, those two guys were the brains or the thought process of the matchup situation. Erman brought it to me and I said ‘yeah.’ ”
Hart has done more at his size than most players in the NBA. He not only has defended much taller players — or slightly taller, depending on how much you trust the measurement — but might be the best rebounding guard in the game. He had 14 rebounds in Game 1 to go along with 11 points, five assists and three steals.
And that’ss not unusual. Hart had double-figure rebounds 18 times in the regular season, including a pair of 15-rebound games and a 14-rebound night against Boston in less than 19 minutes of action.
When did he first think about rebounding? “Since I can remember picking up a ball at 7 or 8,” Hart said, even if he joked that the last time he was one of the taller players might have been when he was about 10 years old. “You want to win and you want to do everything it takes.
“Sometimes when people say I want to win, they just automatically think, ‘OK, he wants to score the most. He wants to do that.’ For me, you have to get stops, and when you force teams into contested shots, you have go out there and get a rebound, especially against a team like this who has good guys who can crash the glass, get offensive rebounds, get their shooters second shots.
“You have to make sure you put an emphasis on rebounding. That’s something I’ve always done. My dad always taught me to be a winning player.”
“For sure, he by far is one of the best connectors that I’ve been around, that I’ve seen just in general,” Brown said. “Because he just does so many little things every time he steps on the floor. They go unnoticed or you can take for granted. The things he does, we definitely need, especially when you’re talking about a physical seven-game series.”
Steve Popper covers the Knicks for Newsday. He has spent nearly three decades covering the Knicks and the NBA, along with just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.
