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By mid-August, Josh Hart was already tired of the perpetual congratulations. In September, it felt like “a burden.”
As great as winning a championship was for the Knicks — and many of the players celebrated wildly and extensively, to be clear — Hart wanted to focus on progress, not history.
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“You’re fully into the swing of working out in the summer and it’s tough to turn the page,” Hart said. “Because you’re sitting there, you turn the page, you’re like ‘I got to work and then somebody says, ‘Congrats, we did this, my family did this, we watched it together,’ and you just keep getting brought back to the championship.
“You move on, you get brought back. That’s also why I can’t wait for that opening night tip, to really put all that stuff behind us.”
Knicks guard Josh Hart (3) attends practice at the Madison Square Garden Training Center in Greenburgh, N.Y., Monday, Oct. 19, 2026. Robert Sabo for NY Post
Hart’s conundrum is at the center of Tuesday’s season opener against the 76ers, a night at MSG meant to celebrate the feelings and accomplishments he’s been trying to avoid. It will be a test of focus from the Knicks, who will go from accepting rings to raising a banner to trying to beat LeBron James.
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All within minutes.
It probably helps that New York’s head coach, Mike Brown, has participated in four ring nights with the Spurs and Warriors. There’s a voice of experience in a high position.
“It is a little tough even for me as a coach,” Brown said. “People are patting you on the back, telling how good you are and it’s good and you want people to be able to do that with you and for you and all that stuff, but in the same breath there always has to be a part of you — and I know this from experience that says — don’t listen to this, don’t read this, don’t watch this. Because it’s hard to stay even-keeled in situations like that. You got to embrace it, you got to enjoy it with others, especially your family, but try to come back down to earth as soon as possible. … We have a pretty sharp group. But if they don’t know, we’ll definitely help by reminding them, ‘This is not last…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/unavoidable-knicks-challenge-comes-kind-235732562.html
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Publish date : 2026-10-19 23:57:00
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