Josh Hart's 'winning time' mentality helps Knicks eliminate Cavaliers in first round of NBA playoffs

Things are different for Josh Hart in the final six minutes of a game.

“That’s winning time. In my mind, there’s no such thing as fatigue, no such thing as being tired, no such thing as being hurt. If I’m out there, that’s the time where I gotta raise my attention to detail, raise my intensity, raise my energy even more,” Hart says. “And that’s something that I’ve always been wired to do. So for me, it’s once that time hits, it’s totally different. In my eyes, it’s 0-0 and you’ve got to go win it.”

On Wednesday night, winning time started a little early. At 6:34, Hart had an offensive rebound off of an RJ Barrett miss. That extra possession ultimately ended in Hart patiently finding Mitchell Robinson for an alley-oop. The Knicks led by 12 at that point. The game wasn’t over, but it felt like the sequence took the life out of the Cavaliers.

The Knicks closed the game out over the final six minutes, and closed the series against Cleveland. They beat the Cavs in five games and will face Miami in the second round.

If recent history is any indication, Hart will play a big role in the series.

He had 12 rebounds in Game 5 (three offensive) and two assists. He played 46:46 of the game and was the primary defender on Donovan Mitchell for most of that time. Mitchell finished with 28 points on 11-for-26 shooting. He missed nine of his 12 three-point attempts and went to the free-throw line just three times.

“They did their job and we didn’t,” Mitchell said after the game.

Hart certainly did his job; he’s done it every night since coming to New York from Portland at the NBA trade deadline.

The Knicks are 21-7 with Hart in the lineup since the trade (disregarding two losses at the end of the season when the Knicks had nothing to play for).

That includes the 4-1 series win over Cleveland. This was Hart’s first postseason, but you wouldn’t know it based on how he played.

Why was Hart so comfortable in his first playoff experience?

“I don’t get play calls for me. I don’t do that. I go out there and just find my way to impact the game and try to impact winning,” Hart said. “Whether that’s in transition, offensive rebounds, catch-and-shoot threes, defensively doing anything like that.

“So for me, it wasn’t too much of a feeling out process because I didn’t have to worry about me getting whatever play call, them defending that differently and doing all that. Mine was just going out there and finding my spots and picking my spots and being aggressive. That’s the hardest thing to scout.”

Hart seemed to sneak up on the Cavs all series. He averaged 7.8 rebounds per game, which contributed to New York’s biggest edge in the series.

The Knicks had 227 total rebounds and 75 offensive rebounds. The Cavs had 186 total rebounds and 46 offensive rebounds.

That’s 29 extra possessions for New York over the five-game series.

Having Hart – the best rebounding guard in the NBA – in the lineup certainly helped. As did Mitchell Robinson. The Knicks’ center averaged 10 rebounds per game.

“Rebounding was really the name of the game,” Tom Thibodeau said.

Hart put his signature on the series by hustling on both ends of the floor. Along the way, he endeared himself to Knicks fans who gravitate toward all-out effort, defense and strong rebounding.

The fans at the Garden exploded when Hart finished a layup over Jarrett Allen late in Game 4.

They will probably be just as loud when Hart makes a play or two in the Miami series. Thanks to Hart’s persistence, the Knicks will be hosting Game 1 of a second-round series for the second time in 23 years.

The game will tip off at 1 p.m. on Sunday. At some point later in the afternoon – probably around six minutes to go in the fourth quarter – you should see Hart flying around on both ends of the court, mucking up the game for Miami.

“That’s winning time,” Hart says. “That’s when I take it to another level.”