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Josh Hart and the New York Knicks flew to Windy City to take on the Chicago Bulls in the opener of a five-game road swing. Where the Knicks will end up after the regular season will depend on how they do in their next games. A win by the visitors will move them past the Orlando Magic for fourth in the Eastern Conference.
Tom Thibodeau couldn’t praise Hart enough after the Knicks overcame a 21-point deficit to pull the rug under the Sacramento Kings two nights ago. The Knicks coach expected more of the same from the do-it-all forward in their showdown with the Bulls.
Josh Hart’s night, however, didn’t last past the first quarter. With 34.1 seconds remaining in the said period, he drove straight into the lane for a layup. He inadvertently hit Bulls forward Javonte Green as he was about to fall. Hart was inevitably called for a flagrant foul 2 and tossed out of the game.
Fans on X (formerly Twitter) promptly reacted to the play:
“They think Hart is Draymond or something?”
Draymond Green wasn’t the only one who caught strays. Bam Adebayo and Jaime Jaquez Jr. were hit as well:
“Bam and Co have done worse and still allowed to keep playing”
One found the ejection to be just too much:
“Insane the officials have the ability to eject Josh Hart for that nonsense.”
The same thought continued in the next reaction:
“The worst jejection I’ve ever seen in my entire life.”
X user Los, however, couldn’t have agreed more:
“No place for intentionally dirty stuff like this in the league.”
Most fans don’t see Josh Hart as a dirty player compared to Draymond Green. Hart hardly gets in the limelight for doing something excessive and unnecessary against another player. He displays a ton of emotion and plays hard but sticks to the rules. The last time he was ejected was in December last year against the Clippers. He was sent to the locker room early after earning back-to-back technical fouls for complaining.
The Knicks struggled even with Josh Hart in the first quarter
Josh Hart played all but a few seconds in the first quarter. Still, the New York Knicks got off to another lethargic start. They were outplayed by the hosts as the Chicago Bulls raced to a 29-17 first-period advantage. O.G. Anunoby has returned from a nine-game absence but the former Raptor has largely been quiet.
The Knicks will be trying to follow the same script they used against the Sacramento Kings when they try to recover versus the Chicago Bulls. New York also had a bad start two nights ago but steadily cut the Kings’ advantage before eventually running away.
The problem in tonight’s attempt for a bounce-back second half is the New York Knicks don’t have Josh Hart anymore. Even if he couldn’t get going in the first 12 minutes, he might have improved as the game progressed.
