{"id":716946,"date":"2026-04-24T04:00:26","date_gmt":"2026-04-24T04:00:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/716946\/"},"modified":"2026-04-24T04:00:26","modified_gmt":"2026-04-24T04:00:26","slug":"josh-harts-offense-flatlines-as-knicks-3-point-woes-worsen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/716946\/","title":{"rendered":"Josh Hart&#8217;s offense flatlines as Knicks 3-point woes worsen"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>ATLANTA \u2014 Josh Hart delivered his first playoff dud \u2014 at least scoring-wise \u2014 at the worst time.<\/p>\n<p>For the opening two games, he was consistent for the Knicks. Entering the postseason, his 3-point shooting was something that could make the difference down the stretch \u2014 just like it did against the Celtics late in the regular season. <\/p>\n<p>But with fellow starter Mikal Bridges benched and scoreless, Hart only <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2026\/04\/23\/sports\/heroes-zeros-from-knicks-game-3-loss-to-hawks\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">managed two points<\/a> during the Knicks\u2019 gutting <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2026\/04\/23\/sports\/knicks-lose-another-heartbreaker-to-hawks-to-fall-into-nba-playoffs-hole\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">109-108 loss to the Hawks<\/a> in Game 3 on Thursday.<\/p>\n<p>He finished 1-for-9 shooting at State Farm Arena and missed all four of his 3-pointers. Hart still produced nine rebounds, six assists and played strong defense on CJ McCollum after he was switched onto him in the second half, but when his scoring faltered, it left the Knicks too dependent on Jalen Brunson, Karl-Anthony Towns and OG Anunoby.<\/p>\n<p><img style=\"aspect-ratio:1.38378378;display:block\" fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" data-modal-image=\"39183009\" width=\"816\" height=\"590\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/nba-playoffs-game-3-new-126276475.jpg\" alt=\"New York Knicks guard Josh Hart (3) shoots while Atlanta Hawks guard CJ McCollum (3) defends during Game 3 of the NBA Playoffs.\" class=\"wp-image-39183009\"  \/>Knicks guard Josh Hart (3) puts up a shot as Atlanta Hawks guard CJ McCollum (3) defends on April 23, 2026. Charles Wenzelberg \/ New York Post<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI mean, yeah, they just didn\u2019t go,\u201d Hart said. \u201c\u2026 I gotta make them.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>This has become a recurring issue for Hart throughout the first-round series, too. He entered Thursday with just one made 3-pointer, despite hitting a career-best 41.3 percent of his shots from beyond the arc during the regular season. <\/p>\n<p>He had a bad turnover in transition late in the first quarter, as he dribbled the ball off his leg and out of bounds, and his only basket occurred with 7:35 remaining \u2014 when Towns fed him a pass and he deposited it through the net.<\/p>\n<p>If there was a silver lining for Hart, and a glimmer of hope for the Knicks, too, Mike Brown switched him onto McCollum at the start of the second half, and Hart was <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2026\/04\/19\/sports\/josh-hart-tweak-key-to-neutraling-hawks-big-threat-to-knicks\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">effective in limiting the Hawks\u2019 star<\/a> \u2014 who erupted for 32 points in Game 1 and another 16 in the opening half Thursday \u2014 when matched up with him.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI just tried to make it tough for him,\u201d Hart said. \u201cThat was the biggest thing, just try to make it tough for him, force him into tough shots.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>But the ineffectiveness on offense will sting. And the 3-point shooting \u2014 and his specifically \u2014 has quickly become a Knicks problem.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI feel like we had good shots,\u201d Hart said. \u201cWe didn\u2019t knock them down.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ATLANTA \u2014 Josh Hart delivered his first playoff dud \u2014 at least scoring-wise \u2014 at the worst time.&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":716947,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3768],"tags":[208,7,327,304,6,11,56381,1136,191,3810,3806,66],"class_list":{"0":"post-716946","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york-knicks","8":"tag-atlanta-hawks","9":"tag-basketball","10":"tag-josh-hart","11":"tag-knicks","12":"tag-nba","13":"tag-nba-playoffs","14":"tag-nba-playoffs-2026","15":"tag-new-york","16":"tag-new-york-knicks","17":"tag-newyork","18":"tag-newyorkknicks","19":"tag-sports"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116457690367651732","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/716946","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=716946"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/716946\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/716947"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=716946"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=716946"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=716946"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}