New York Knicks Stefan Bondy The numbers don’t add up with Josh Hart — and that’s why Cavaliers lost their big gamble By Stefan Bondy Published May 22, 2026, 12:52 a.m. ET Josh Hart dominated in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Finals, leading the Knicks to a 109-93 win over the Cavaliers on May 21, 2026 at the Garden. Charles Wenzelberg / New York Post It would’ve been easy for the Knicks to go in another direction in Game 2. It would’ve been easy for Mike Brown to pull the plug on Josh Hart and reinsert one of his favorites, Landry Shamet, a move that worked wonders two days prior in Game 1. For Hart, it would’ve been easy to curl up and stop shooting 3-pointers. We’ve seen that before. He doesn’t look at the hoop and swings the ball like it’s a hot potato.
But the head coach didn’t give up on his glue guy, and Hart didn’t give up on himself.
Eventually, that swung Thursday’s Game 2 into a 109-93 Knicks victory with Hart going off because the Cavaliers had no respect for him. When the numbers told him to go to the bench or stop shooting, Hart told the analytics nerds to throw away their calculators.
Josh Hart slams the ball during the third quarter of the Knicks’ 109-93 Game 2 win over the Cavaliers at the Garden. Jason Szenes for the New York Post “I’m never a huge analytics guy. At some point, they’re a lamppost to a drunk person,” Hart said. “You can lean on them. But they won’t get you home. So at a certain point, you got to have a good feel for the game.”
