{"id":17024,"date":"2025-10-26T07:19:18","date_gmt":"2025-10-26T07:19:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/17024\/"},"modified":"2025-10-26T07:19:18","modified_gmt":"2025-10-26T07:19:18","slug":"josh-hart-grabs-14-rebounds-in-knicks-debut-after-injury-scare","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/17024\/","title":{"rendered":"Josh Hart grabs 14 rebounds in Knicks debut after injury scare"},"content":{"rendered":"

Josh Hart<\/a> was sore. Extremely sore. But nothing was going to stop him from making his season debut Friday night against the Boston Celtics.<\/p>\n

The Knicks<\/a> forward had been sidelined for three weeks after suffering lower back spasms just seven minutes into the Oct. 2 preseason opener in Abu Dhabi. He missed the remainder of New York\u2019s exhibition slate and the regular-season opener against the Cleveland Cavaliers<\/a> at Madison Square Garden on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou don\u2019t really know how often you use your back until you hurt your back,\u201d Hart said at his locker ahead of tipoff Friday. \u201cLast week I was feeling good, kinda hitting all my checkmarks, and then I tried to go through doing live contact stuff and it was just like \u2014 \u2018yeah, nah. It\u2019s not there. It\u2019s not ready yet.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s frustrating \u2018cause I wanna play. I wanna compete, but I gotta be smart with it.\u201d<\/p>\n

And then it happened: Hart went through pregame warmups and decided to give it a go. A go for Hart? That meant a team-high 14 rebounds in just 19 minutes for a 6-5 forward during New York\u2019s 105\u201395 win over Boston<\/a>. The only players to record at least 14 rebounds in 20 or fewer minutes this decade have been centers standing 6-10 or taller.<\/p>\n

\u201cI knew [my] offense was gonna be a little shaky. First game back, so I had to do something to help this team,\u201d he joked after the game. \u201cIt felt really good out there, to get up and down. I\u2019m happy we got the win. And then continue building off of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"JoshJosh Hart of the New York Knicks drives against the Boston Celtics during the second quarter at Madison Square Garden on October 24, 2025 in New York City. (Photo by Al Bello\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Hart\u2019s read was right. His offense showed some rust \u2014 and his conditioning wasn\u2019t far behind. By the end of his stint, the NBA\u2019s minutes leader from last season was gassed. The proof came late: a wide-open corner three that missed everything. Had he had anything left, Hart said he might\u2019ve gone for rebound No. 15.<\/p>\n

\u201cHell no [I couldn\u2019t grab another rebound], bruh. You see that last three? My legs was gone, bro,\u201d he laughed. \u201cIt didn\u2019t even get to the rim. I don\u2019t even know if it got to the paint. My legs was gone today, man, so [I decided] I\u2019ll help y\u2019all and get some rebounds for the team.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite coming off the bench this season, Hart remains one of the Knicks\u2019 most vital pieces. Head coach Mike Brown made it clear after the game how impactful Hart\u2019s return already is.<\/p>\n

\u201c[For him] to have the game that he had in that short amount of time was phenomenal to watch,\u201d Brown said. \u201cIt adds to our team, it adds to the versatility of our team. It adds to the defensive end of the floor when it comes to us guarding and being able to do a lot of different things. So I was excited to see Josh out there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hart missed most of training camp and preseason as the Knicks implemented Brown\u2019s new up-tempo, ball-moving offense. But the style fits him perfectly: a high-energy connector who thrives in chaos and transition. He\u2019s confident he\u2019ll catch up quickly through live action.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust being attentive to what they were doing [in practice]. Obviously, it\u2019s gonna be a little bit of a learning curve not having the game reps,\u201d Hart said. \u201cObviously I can go through practice and all that but game reps are different. So it\u2019s gonna take a little bit of adjusting for everybody, but I felt like it was a solid first game.<\/p>\n

\u201cUnfortunately, in my career, I\u2019ve had a lot of turnover at coach. This is my ninth year. I think [Mike] is my seventh coach. So I\u2019ve had a lot of experience in adapting to different philosophies and stuff like that. So I\u2019ve come in with my own blank canvass and just kinda let him instill his philosophies and all that and just build off of that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hart gave the Knicks plenty to build off. His fearless, all-effort style blends seamlessly into Brown\u2019s pace-and-space attack. But he\u2019ll remain on injury watch. Lower backs are unpredictable, and his surgically repaired right ring finger will require another operation next summer.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s tough \u2018cause you don\u2019t really know how [the back will] respond until you put it to the test,\u201d he said. \u201cMy finger\u2019s still messed up. It\u2019s still chopped. It kinda just is what it is at this point. Down the line, hopefully this offseason I\u2019ll get it fixed but until then we\u2019re just gonna rock with it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Knicks will take what they can get \u2014 and they know if Hart\u2019s in uniform, they\u2019ll get everything he has.<\/p>\n

While Brown was amazed at 14 rebounds in 19 minutes, something he said he hadn\u2019t seen before, Karl-Anthony Towns wasn\u2019t surprised in the slightest.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am not [surprised]. That\u2019s what he does,\u201d Towns said. \u201cHe impacts the game with his energy and his competitiveness. It changes the game every time.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Josh Hart was sore. Extremely sore. But nothing was going to stop him from making his season debut…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":17025,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[11943,4778,10663,1556,9,24,55,54,56,11944],"class_list":["post-17024","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-city","tag-celtics","tag-josh-hart","tag-knicks","tag-mike-brown","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-new-york-city-headlines","tag-new-york-city-news","tag-ny","tag-rebounds"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17024","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17024"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17024\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17025"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17024"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17024"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17024"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}