Josh Hart explained what makes Madison Square Garden so special: players always want to bring their best.
Madison Square Garden is always one of the most positively reviewed arenas in all of basketball. The New York Knicks’ home is always popping when the team is good, which it finally is now after a long stretch of being dormant.
Opposing players talk all the time about how special it is to play at MSG. Great opposing players from Michael Jordan to Stephen Curry have had signature performances there. When the home stars like Carmelo Anthony and Jalen Brunson delivered big wings, the energy skyrockets. For players like Josh Hart, who just finished his first full season as a Knick, it becomes a comfortable home quickly.
In an appearance on The Pivot, Hart was asked if being in a high-profile environment like The Garden is distracting. The Knicks wing said that it wasn’t but did offer some positives and negatives about playing there.
Playing in the Garden is a good and bad thing, right,” he said, “because [when] you’re the home team [and] you’re good, it’s lit. The energy, it’s crazy, all that kind of stuff. But then, on the flip side, everybody wants to play at the Garden. Dudes will, like, if they see New York on the schedule and they’re nursing a little injury, [they say], ‘Alright, let me sit out the game or two before to make sure I’m right to go to the Garden.’ You’ll be having random dudes just go off. They’ll be like, ‘It’s my time.’ They go out there and get 30, 40, 50 and you’ll be looking like, ‘Man, he don’t do this.’”
Madison Square Garden’s popularity works for and against Knicks’ favor, per Josh Hart
Hart experienced this himself in his career before joining the Knicks, which was spent entirely in the Western Conference with the Los Angeles Lakers, New Orleans Pelicans and Portland Trail Blazers. He recalls being ready to play each time he visited New York. Now, as a Knick himself, he has to keep that in mind each time he takes the court for a game at The Garden.
