BOSTON — Josh Hart is more than the Knicks’ Energizer Bunny.
He’s their stabilizer and confidence booster.
His contributions are most noticeable — and take on greater importance — when the Knicks are struggling and on the ropes.
That’s when Hart often becomes most aggressive in doing the dirty work that allows his teammates to snap out of funks.
Where he most tries to push the pace and get the Knicks to play faster.
Where he most makes it a point to penetrate into the lane and create open looks for the rest of the offense.
When the going gets tough, Hart certainly doesn’t hide.
Instead, he elevates.
“For me, I’ve said it all year, it’s how can I get my guys going? How can I help them get an easy shot or an open look or get their energy into the game? A lot of that I do by example,” Hart said Sunday after practice. “I’ll talk to guys obviously, but it’s making a big play here or there, a hustle play that will get one of those guys an open shot that they knock down, now they’re feeling good, the energy is up. That’s something I always try to do, that I hang my hat on.”
In the Game 6 and series-clinching win over the Pistons, Hart was a team-high plus-13.
He also finished with 13 points, 10 rebounds, four assists and a block.
That ability to inject life into the team when it’s on the wrong side of a run will take on even greater importance against the Celtics in the conference semifinals.
The Knicks were able to weather plenty of big Pistons runs — especially a 20-2 run in the fourth quarter of Game 6 — in the first round and respond with runs of their own.
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But the Celtics are not the Pistons, and have the talent and killer instinct to bury the Knicks and leave no room for a response.
They also have the raucous TD Garden crowd, which routinely fuels huge momentum shifts in their favor.
For any chance to pull off a series upset, the Knicks will have to limit those types of big runs.
Hart’s role in that task is paramount.
“Him just being unselfish — moving the ball to the second side, being aggressive, that’s just him being aggressive driving, going to a dribble handoff, whatever it is,” Mikal Bridges said of Hart. “That’s just him being aggressive and playing fast. We got guys that can all play off of that and we read and react to that.”
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