Oh, yes. There will be blood ... on this New York Knicks playoff trip.
Those lamenting the Knicks' 127-102 defeat at the hands of the Boston Celtics on Wednesday night in Game 5 of their Eastern Conference semifinal set at least potentially emerged with a new avatar for social media profiles. It was Knicks star Josh Hart who provided the moment, as his bleeding face after a physical encounter with Celtics center Luke Kornet went viral among New Yorker's amidst the unfortunate result.
In video from SNY, Hart described himself as "peachy" after getting "a couple" stitches amidst game action. An adhesive bandage was place over his left eye, which appeared to be swelling as the contest reached its latter stages.
The incident occurred with just over three minutes remaining in the opening period: following a Boston triple, Hart drove to the inside and took an inadvertent elbow from a defending Kornet. Hart remained situated on the ground as he regained his surrounding before retreating to the Knicks bench when officials called for a review to potentially bring larger charges against Kornet, a former Knick.
While officials went to the monitor, clean-up begin on both Hart and hardwood. The former, in fact, was forced to changed out of his stained uniform, as specks of red dotted his white. blue, and orange Knicks jersey. Officials eventually ruled Kornet's contact incidental and charged him with a common foul, which afforded Hart two free throws.
The well-earned freebies drew Hart's attention far better than any facial relief, especially considering his night would be over if he was unable to shoot. He calmly sank the two singles awarded and even played 21 more seconds before a stoppage for a foul against Mitchell Robinson gave the Knicks a chance to get him out of the game and into the locker room for further analysis and sanitation.
Hart would re-enter the game with just over two minutes gone by in the second period, taking over when Karl-Anthony Towns was charged with his third foul. Despite the swelling, Hart seemed to show no ill effects from his encounter with Kornet, leading the Knicks with 24 points in defeat. The "Roommates Show" co-host was 7-of-15 from the floor on Wednesday, including 5-of-9 from three-point range.
Such efforts alone weren't enough to grant the Knicks what would've been an iconic win, as they still sit one game away from their advancement to the Eastern Conference Final round since 2000. Nonetheless, Hart managed to provide perhaps the perfect definition of his Knicks career to date, pairing unusual situations with a sense of heart (no pun intended) and soul valued by championship teams of the past, present, and future.
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