Injury-hit Knicks feel ‘urgency’ after rough patch

NEW YORK – After the New York Knicks finished off an injury-filled February with a 4-8 record with a 110-99 loss to the Golden State Warriors Thursday night at Madison Square Garden, Knicks forward Josh Hart said the he and his teammates are doing all they can with what they have available to them.

“I’m not sure what you all expect, or what you all think,” Hart said after finishing with 14 points, 18 rebounds and 7 assists in 47 minutes in the loss. “We are playing as best as we can with the bodies that we have.

“We’re playing our asses off. It’s not like we’re just sitting there and crying about injuries and laying down. Nah, we’re grinding. We’re pushing ourselves. And once we get guys back, we’re good.”

When, exactly, the Knicks will get their guys back remains to be seen. There was one small update Thursday before the game from Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau: that OG Anunoby, who has been out since Jan. 27 with an elbow issue, has progressed to on court work.

But even that update came with a caveat: that Anunoby still hasn’t begun any contact work, meaning his return isn’t imminent.

For both Julius Randle, who has also been out since Jan. 27 with a separated shoulder, and Mitchell Robinson, who has been out since December due to an ankle issue, they haven’t even taken that next step in their recovery processes.

In the aggregate, all that means for New York, which has now lost seven of its last nine games after going 14-2 in the month of January, is that reinforcements aren’t coming for a group that has looked tired for some time now under the collective wear and tear of not only those three players having extended absences, but both Jalen Brunson and Hartenstein missing periods of time, too.

Predictably, though, Thibodeau – who famously says “Next man up” whenever an injury question arises, wasn’t worried about the Knicks being short-handed.

“We’re more than capable,” Thibodeau said.

When asked about Hart playing 47 minutes, he said, “Obviously we’re shorthanded right now, so that’s what’s required.”

And now the Knicks, after their poor February, find themselves in a three-way tie in the loss column with the Miami Heat and Philadelphia 76ers for fourth place in the Eastern Conference, and are just one game in the loss column ahead of both the Indiana Pacers and Orlando Magic – meaning the play-in tournament is now very much in play.

“There’s urgency,” Hartenstein said, when asked about the standings situation. “There’s urgency every single day.”

Still, that urgency hasn’t turned to panic — in large part because New York still believes it is capable of being the team that ran roughshod across the league in January, before both Anunoby and Randle were lost after a win over the Miami Heat and the Knicks have been dealing with a cascade of absences ever since that have sapped their energy.

“I didn’t see anybody talking about the way we were playing before [this losing streak],” Hart said. “Nine in a row, 10 in a row, 15 out of 16. Take four starters, six rotation guys out of any lineup in the league and they’re going to struggle.

“I don’t care if they’re Boston with the best record, or Detroit or Washington with the worst record. If you take that many guys out at the same time you’re going to struggle. That wasn’t directed at you. That’s the reality of it. Hopefully in the next couple of weeks we’ll get guys back. We’re grinding. We’re pushing ourselves as much as we can. Once those guys are back the benefit of it is we get a fresh OG, a fresh Ju, hopefully a fresh Mitch, to make a run.”

In the meantime, New York simply has to try to hang on. And, for the next 48 hours, they’ll happily get a break from the grind of the 82-game schedule, and the many injuries they’ve been dealing with, before going to Cleveland Sunday to play the Cavaliers before returning to New York for a four-game slate – one featuring a trio of potentially pivotal games against the Magic and the 76ers (twice).

“We’re on to Cleveland, for sure,” said Brunson, who had 27 points, 5 rebounds and 5 assists Thursday night. “We clearly need to be better. We can definitely learn from our past. We can be upset, pissed off for the rest of today, until we fall asleep. But tomorrow morning, we’ve got to be focused on the next one.

“Keep our spirits up, keep our confidence up. We all need to work hard individually to be confident. Just come in the next day, be ready to go, just keep trusting each other, just keep chipping away.”