Josh Hart denies ‘egos’ and ‘agendas’ comments were about specific Knick

Josh Hart twice declared this month that the Knicks needed to put away their “ego” and “agenda” after a loss, sparking a small controversy that led to speculation on sports talk radio over who he was referring to. It flew around.

The forward clarified his comments after Tuesday's 99-95 win over the Nets, calling them disproportionate.

“You guys over-examine everything, that's what you guys do,” Hart said. “I said something about egos and you guys just took it and ran with it. You have to be a team without egos to win.

“That's why Boston won. They have a team with no egos. They've got Jrue Holiday, who's an All-Star, All-Defense, All-NBA, max player. He doesn't care about scoring. That's the egoless attitude we need to have. I couldn't pinpoint anyone, but that's what we need to do to win.”

Asked last week about Hart's comments, manager Tom Thibodeau said he didn't know the words, but said, “As often happens, the day after watching film, I put a microphone in front of someone right after a game.'' And sometimes they say things that we wish we hadn't said until we saw the movie the next day, and usually something happens. There are reasons why. So you should probably think before you say anything.

Karl-Anthony Towns admitted thumb injury affected his 3-point shooting after the center missed three 3-pointers from beyond the arc — “For sure.'' ” he said.

“That's what it is,” he repeated.

Early in the game, Towns appeared to hurt his shooter's thumb, then hit an airball to Trey. He quickly became trapped and had the white tape re-wrapped around his thumb. Towns otherwise played well, showing his versatility from inside and scoring 25 points.

“I work hard on my game,” he said. “I'm more than just a 3-point shooter.”

Since returning Monday from a thumb injury that included both a sprain and a bone fragment, Towns has made 1 of 9 3-pointers.

MSG Networks said it is willing to resolve its impasse with cable company Altice through arbitration.

The station has been removed from Altice's Optimum program since January 1 after the two sides were unable to reach a contractual agreement.

MSG Networks' statement reads: “We are willing to agree to a short-term extension in connection with resolving the dispute through binding arbitration by a neutral third party.” “This will allow Optimum subscribers to watch their favorite sports programming while we resolve outstanding issues.”