Josh Hart said Wednesday he expects the Cavaliers to leave him open again in Game 2 and that he will keep taking the same shots after being benched in the fourth quarter and overtime of Game 1.
Hart opened practice comments with a blunt read of Cleveland’s plan: "Yeah it’s probably the same game plan. They were up 20. They’re probably gonna do the same thing and I’m gonna shoot the exact same shots." Game 1 ended with the Knicks erasing a 22-point deficit, Hart at the end of the bench and Landry Shamet replacing him late.
The box score underscored the switch. Hart shot 1-for-5 on 3-pointers in Game 1 and posted a team-worst minus-23 rating. Shamet, the man who replaced him in the fourth and overtime, was 3-for-3 from deep and finished with a team-best plus-20.
Hart framed those numbers the way a player must if he intends to keep shooting: "I shot good shots. I just didn’t make them … I’m gonna continue to shoot. I’m working incredibly hard on my shots." He then demonstrated it at Wednesday’s practice, knocking down eight straight corner 3-pointers in front of the media, six of which "touched nothing but net."
That routine matters because Hart’s shooting splits present a clear contrast between what he did in the regular season and what he’s produced in the postseason. He finished the regular season at 41.3 percent from 3-point range; his playoff percentage stands at 26.7 percent. The Cavaliers’ willingness to leave him open — a tactic Cleveland used while building a 20-point lead in Game 1 — is the strategic wrinkle that handed the Knicks their comeback and prompted the late substitution.
Coach Mike Brown, asked about role players sacrificing minutes, pointed to precedent and to Hart’s approach. "When you are in the position that Josh was in or Mikal was in in the Atlanta series … they sacrificed their minutes willingly and they were great about it while keeping themselves ready," Brown said, adding, "Mikal was fantastic … and I don’t see anything different from Josh going forward."
The tension is clear: Hart insists he will keep firing from the perimeter — "I’m gonna shoot the exact same shots. I’m gonna shoot it with confidence, play my game" — even though the matchup and the late-game rotation in Game 1 favored Shamet’s hot hand. Hart’s benching was not just a coaching decision; it was a response to the matchup and to results on the floor: Hart’s minus-23 and 1-for-5 on 3s versus Shamet’s perfect night and plus-20 tell a simple story about what mattered most in the fourth quarter and overtime.
Hart acknowledged how it felt to watch. "That’s always difficult, watching it on the bench," he said, then framed his reaction around team priorities: "Obviously, I want to be out there. I want to help my guys win, but at the end of the day, for me, I don’t have an ego to it. I approach this game with extreme humility." He added, "I’m here to serve these guys … [to] make sure they’re in the best position to be successful. I put the success of the team over the success of myself any day."
The next chapter comes in Game 2, when the Knicks are scheduled to play the Cavaliers again. Hart left Wednesday’s session insisting the Cavaliers will likely repeat the same plan that once produced a 20-point lead and that he will meet it the way he said he has been: by shooting with confidence and by trying to give his teammates the best chance to win. He closed his interview as he opened it — unvarnished and committed: "I’m gonna shoot the exact same shots."
