Hart has been incredible as of late.
The New York Knicks have been on a roll lately, and Josh Hart wants everyone to know there's nothing flashy about it.
After New York's 121-116 win over the New Orleans Pelicans on Tuesday night at Madison Square Garden, Hart summed up the team's recent stretch in the most straightforward way possible.
"Good teams win games that they're supposed to," Hart said. "Obviously anyone in the league can beat you on any given day."
That mentality has carried the Knicks through a seven-game winning streak that pushed them to 48-25 on the season, good for third in the Eastern Conference and just a half-game behind the Boston Celtics for the second seed.
The streak has come against a soft stretch of the schedule, with opponents like the Indiana Pacers, Utah Jazz, Brooklyn Nets, Washington Wizards, and the Pelicans all sporting losing records.
But as Hart pointed out, that doesn't mean the wins come easy, and it doesn't mean they don't count.
Hart's Value Goes Beyond the Box Score
What makes Hart so important to this Knicks team is that he fills in every gap they need him to.
He is averaging 12.2 points, 7.6 rebounds, and 5.0 assists per game while shooting 50.7 percent from the floor and 40.4 percent from three on the season, which are both career-best marks.
He does the little things that don't always show up in the highlights, like crashing the glass, making the extra pass, and guarding multiple positions on the other end.
During the winning streak, Hart has been especially locked in.
He posted a season-high 33 points against the Pacers on 12-of-13 shooting with five made threes, then followed that up with 16 points against the Wizards while going 3-for-3 from deep.
He has now hit nine consecutive three-pointers over his last three games, which ties for third in franchise history and has completely changed how defenses approach the Knicks.
When a player like Hart, someone who has never been known as a shooter, suddenly can't miss from beyond the arc, it opens up driving lanes for Jalen Brunson and creates more space for Karl-Anthony Towns to operate inside.
Handling Business Before the Playoffs
Hart's quote about good teams winning the games they should is a simple idea, but it speaks to something the Knicks have struggled with at times this season.
Earlier in the year, New York went through a rough 2-9 stretch from late December into January that had fans questioning whether this roster could actually compete for a title.
The team has since responded with one of the best runs in the Eastern Conference, going 22-7 since January 20 with the league's top defensive rating during that span.
Even during the winning streak, the Knicks haven't always made things easy on themselves, with slow starts and sloppy turnovers turning games against bad teams into closer-than-expected contests.
But every time they've needed someone to step up, whether it's Brunson taking over a fourth quarter or Hart grabbing a timely offensive rebound, this team has found a way to close things out.
With the playoffs approaching and the race for the second seed still very much alive, the Knicks will need that kind of consistency from Hart and everyone else if they want to make a real push this spring.