{"id":531231,"date":"2026-01-12T07:21:28","date_gmt":"2026-01-12T07:21:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/531231\/"},"modified":"2026-01-12T07:21:28","modified_gmt":"2026-01-12T07:21:28","slug":"josh-hart-sparks-knicks-by-trail-blazers-in-return-with-karl-anthony-towns-glued-to-bench-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/531231\/","title":{"rendered":"Josh Hart sparks Knicks by Trail Blazers in return with Karl-Anthony Towns glued to bench"},"content":{"rendered":"

PORTLAND, Ore. \u2014 If the Knicks had been winning instead of floundering, Josh Hart would\u2019ve rested a few more days.<\/p>\n

After all, he heard his right ankle pop on Christmas. It was a bad sprain. But as he sat eight straight games, the Knicks endured their worst stretch of the season \u2014 losses in five of six \u2014 abandoning their flow, their defense, their pace.<\/p>\n

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So Hart came back Sunday. Both he and the Knicks felt good about that decision after he keyed a 123-114 victory over the Blazers, injecting his energy into a roster that badly needed his cohesive powers.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we were on a good little run, I\u2019d have taken a couple more days, couple more games,\u201d Hart said. \u201cI felt I could come in and help where I\u2019m at right now. I\u2019m good. I always feel if I\u2019m banged up a little bit and I go out there and play and get the movement and all that it helps me heal faster.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hart, who never loses his conditioning, logged 31 hard minutes with 18 points and six assists. His performance included a steal plus breakaway layup with 2:55 remaining, giving the Knicks a 10-point lead, then a 12-foot jumper in the final 90 seconds that felt like the victory sealer.<\/p>\n

\"Knicks<\/p>\n

Knicks guard Josh Hart (3) drives to the basket as Portland Trail Blazers center Donovan Clingan (23) defends during the first half of an NBA basketball game Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Portland, Ore. AP<\/p>\n

Hart\u2019s teammates also made plays in crunch time, with the exception of Karl-Anthony Towns, the struggling All-Star center, who was subbed out with 9:24 remaining and didn\u2019t play again. Without KAT, the Knicks won the final five minutes 20-10, two days after Jalen Brunson and Co. faltered down the stretch in Phoenix.<\/p>\n

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Every Knicks starter, including Towns, scored at least 18 points. OG Anunoby dropped 14 of his 24 points in the fourth quarter, including 10 in the final 4:15. Mitchell Robinson nabbed six offensive rebounds.<\/p>\n

The locker room felt good about Hart being back.<\/p>\n

\u201cHis energy is contagious,\u201d Brunson said.<\/p>\n

Added Mike Brown, \u201cIt\u2019s huge. Josh, like I said before, a lot of our guys are irreplaceable and especially a guy like Josh who does so many little things for you.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hart\u2019s impact was immediate Sunday.<\/p>\n

He scored eight points in the opening four minutes, as the Blazers dared Hart to shoot 3s by leaving him wide open on the perimeter.<\/p>\n

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Since the Blazers initially used a center to defend Hart, the Knicks forward was frequently able to bring up the ball unchallenged, allowing Brunson to rest his legs for those important fourth-quarter minutes.<\/p>\n

\"Knicks<\/p>\n

Knicks center Karl-Anthony Towns, right, drives to the basket as Portland Trail Blazers center\/forward Robert Williams III, left, defends during the first half of an NBA basketball game, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Portland, Ore. AP<\/p>\n

\u201cI think there was certain situations when I was out, like the San Antonio game [a New Year\u2019s Eve loss], for example, where they\u2019re blitzing JB, and I\u2019d be able to help, being in that pocket and playmaking and kind of helping guys, being in those kind of positions, stuff like that,\u201d Hart said. \u201cOr you\u2019re watching and saying like, \u2018Damn, if I was out there I could help in this way, help in that way.\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n

In his successful return, Hart shot 7-for-15 and 3-for-5 from deep with two steals and a block, as the Knicks (25-14) held the Blazers (19-21) to 54 points in the second half.<\/p>\n

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It became a reassurance to the fans that Hart\u2019s presence could help stop the bleeding.<\/p>\n

Still, Hart said he felt no pressure to be a savior. If anything, the team\u2019s struggles alleviated that. He could only be the hero.<\/p>\n

And he left Portland with a victory.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think there\u2019s pressure when I\u2019m coming back. It\u2019d probably be more pressure if we were on a five-game winning streak,\u201d Hart said. \u201cI can\u2019t come in and mess things up. If we were on a five-game winning streak, I probably wouldn\u2019t be playing.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PORTLAND, Ore. \u2014 If the Knicks had been winning instead of floundering, Josh Hart would\u2019ve rested a few…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":531232,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3784],"tags":[7,601,974,288,327,563,304,1247,6,66742,741,687,471,3967,13399,969,4498,1617],"class_list":["post-531231","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-portland-trail-blazers","tag-basketball","tag-blazers","tag-donovan-clingan","tag-jalen-brunson","tag-josh-hart","tag-karl-anthony-towns","tag-knicks","tag-mitchell-robinson","tag-nba","tag-nba-basketball-game","tag-og-anunoby","tag-portland","tag-portland-trail-blazers","tag-portlandtrailblazers","tag-robert-williams-iii","tag-san-antonio","tag-the-blazers","tag-trail-blazers"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/115880925007619291","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/531231","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=531231"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/531231\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/531232"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=531231"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=531231"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=531231"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}