Anyone even remotely familiar with the NBA knows that the playoffs are a whole different beast. Teams have more time to prepare for their opponents than a grueling regular season, and they use those extra days and hours to pinpoint their opponents’ weaknesses.
One type of player that tends to struggle in the postseason is Non-shooting wing/forward. Year after year, we’ve seen players like Lakers forward Jared Vanderbilt perform well in the regular season but fail in the playoffs. We’ve already seen this start to happen with Derrick Jones Jr. this year. dallas mavericks (He played after starting the first game) less than 5 minutes Latter half).
Josh Hart theoretically fits into this player classification. He’s a defensive-minded wing/forward, but while he’s a good defender, he’s not an all-league level defender like Herb Jones or Jonathan Isaac. That means he has to work harder to overcome his limitations and stay on his floor.
And on the other hand, he’s exactly the type of guy other teams would try to hold accountable. He doesn’t have a high usage rate (21st percentile according to Dunks & Threes). Most importantly, he’s a below-average shooter (19th percentile on 3-point percentage).
In other words, Hart appears to be the proverbial 82-game player, the type of player who performs well in the regular season and then gets sidelined in a big game. That happened in last year’s Eastern Conference semifinals against the Miami Heat.After playing an average of 35 minutes per game in the first round (vs. cleveland cavaliers), Hart only played 29.7 points against Miami, but in one of those games (Game 5), he logged just 9 minutes and 03 seconds of playing time. To make matters worse, New York ended up winning the game.
This difficulty touches my heart The biggest swing factor Head to New York for the postseason. he, knicksAlthough he had success in the regular season (second on the team in total minutes played), he didn’t fix the weakness (shooting) that killed him in 2023. So New York needed him to be huge heading into the playoffs. He was part of the rotation in the playoffs, but it was impossible to know if they could count on him.
Fast forward to today, and the Knicks have played two games on the road. philadelphia 76ers, both wins, Hart averaged 21.5 PPG and 14 RPG while on the court for 90 of 96 minutes. But how?
The reason so many players with the superficial Hart archetype play off the court is that if the defense ignores them when they’re at the 3-point line, they can’t hit even if they try to take an open shot. If they couldn’t, their entire offense wouldn’t work. As a result, spacing is lost.
So the best way to solve this problem is to hit an open 3. Hart did that through two games, making 8 of 15 3-pointers (53.3%). Now, Hart didn’t magically go from a below-average shooter to the best shooter of all time. In fact, Hart’s much improved conversion rate can probably be explained by shooting luck.
However, it takes a lot of confidence to take these shots in the first place, especially when the defense is acting like it doesn’t even exist. That’s the No. 1 key to Hart’s early playoff success: confidence. Like almost everyone who has ever lived, Heart is not perfect. But unlike many people, he doesn’t dwell on his failures. No matter what happens, good or bad, Hart will keep his head down and focus on the next play.
In the first clip of the montage below, you can see Hart miss a wide-open three. Many men might be hesitant to pull the trigger next time, but Hart wasn’t one of them. He always plays like he believes the next shot will go in.
Hart’s confidence extends to his adventures to the rim. He’s not a super athlete like Jaylen Green, who beats defenders with a dynamic first step in the half court. Instead, Hurts uses full court to gain speed into the paint and tries to make mistakes to increase the pace. Once he finally reached his top speed, Hart became fearless and was even willing to challenge his admired Joel Embiid at the basket.
Hurts’ transition possessions are so strong that New York City purposefully places him among tertiary offensive players (like Tobias Harris and Kelly Oubre Jr.) so he can grab defensive rebounds. (it’s hard to break the glass when you’re competing in a shot) and initiate a fast break. like this:
Hart may have missed the layup, but his rim pressure created an opportunity for teammate Mitchell Robinson for a putback slam.
Speaking of rebounding, the second key to Hart’s success is physicality. Despite ranking 16th in effective field goal percentage (a metric that measures both 2-point and 3-point shooting attempts and takes into account the increased scoring value of 3-pointers), the Knicks were the best in basketball this year. They had the 7th best offense (in terms of offensive rating) in the NBA. ).
They do this by mastering the offensive glass (#1 in offensive rebounding rate). Obtaining an offensive rebound does not count as a new possession. So instead of just him getting one shot per possession, which most teams would get, he would basically end up getting multiple shots per possession.
Hart plays a major role in implementing this strategy. Hart’s height is only 6’4, but he’s in the 61st percentile league-wide in offensive rebounding percentage (in fact, his teammates fondly refer to him back when he wore the purple and gold). ) please mention him Nicknamed “Josh Barclay” for his tenacity with glass). This is where his physicality comes into play. Hart can’t tower over shorter defenders and wait for the ball to fall into his hands. So he uses force. Seriously, he’s so beefy that you can’t move him even if you try. He led grizzled veteran forward David West into retirement. And the ironclad will to bulldoze through the trees and grab a second chance.
In the past two games, Hart has collected eight offensive rebounds. For reference, Embiid, a true 7-footer, also had eight offensive rebounds in this series.
Hart’s offensive rebounding ability is so highly regarded that some could argue that his presence indirectly contributed to Donte DiVincenzo’s game-winning triple in Game 2.
An underrated part of Donte’s game-winner, one that isn’t often discussed, is that Hartenstein’s O-Rebound that set up the shot was created by Hart’s O-Rebound gravity.
Embiid is so worried about Hart that he puts him in the box instead of his girlfriend (Hartenstein, of course). pic.twitter.com/B5bK1wLiR1
— Matt Issa (@matissa15) April 23, 2024
But perhaps the main aspect of Hart’s game that is driving his recent run is his ability. ball in his hands All at once. Sure his usage rate is low, but that doesn’t mean he can’t do anything on the ball. At times, the Knicks will have Hurts bring the ball up the floor to force Jalen Brunson to perform off-ball actions. And sometimes, the Knicks even run plays designed specifically for Hart.
In general, it is more difficult to attack a player who does not shoot to protect the paint when a player other than the shooter is directly involved in the play. That’s why players like Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo have had success in the past.
The bottom line is that Hart broke the rules of playoff basketball by working hard enough to compensate for the poor spacing created by the player archetype. Hart is (now) confident enough to let it fly when the defense demands it, and opportunistic enough to play with pace when the moment comes, protecting the team’s identity. He’s fierce enough to play, and versatile enough to wear a variety of hats on offense.
Hart is proving he can be the rare non-shooting wing/forward who can survive the rigors of the playoffs. And, fortunately for the Knicks, that seems to be Hart’s preference, although the path hasn’t been easy.
