The Knicks came out with a sense of urgency and desperation on the defensive end in their 114-98 Game 4 win Saturday night at State Farm Arena. Hart was at the heart of it.<\/p>\n
\u201cJosh was really good on the ball,\u201d coach Mike Brown said. \u201cJosh is a guy with quick feet, he\u2019s strong and when he gets locked in, he\u2019s locked in. His defensive activity, especially when he [pressures the ball], was fabulous [Saturday night]. Really, really good. And we needed all of it.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Knicks held the Hawks to just 41.0 percent shooting from the field and 24.4 percent shooting from 3-point range. Atlanta committed 19 turnovers, which the Knicks converted into 21 points.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve been trying to do that every game this series, trying to be physical with those guys, take that challenge upon myself,\u201d Hart said. \u201cDon\u2019t think there was anything different today. Trying to do what I\u2019ve been doing. I haven\u2019t been making shots. So I\u2019ve got to make sure I find a way to be impactful.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Knicks](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/nba-playoffs-game-4-new-126411313.jpg\")
Knicks guard Josh Hart (3) drives down court during the third quarter. Charles Wenzelberg \/ New York Post<\/p>\n
Hart spent almost equal time guarding Jalen Johnson and CJ McCollum on Saturday and was effective on both. The Knicks seemed to find an answer to slow down McCollum in Game 3, when they had Hart guard him in the second half. But in Game 4, it was more of a rotating responsibility.<\/p>\n
They\u2019ve been using Hart as a Swiss Army knife on defense, moving him to where they need him most at the moment.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe just wanted to move Josh around,\u201d Brown said. \u201cJosh, his ball pressure is good. He\u2019s strong, he\u2019s got pretty good feet, he\u2019s got long arms and he locks into the ball, so he\u2019s able to get some deflections without fouling because of his long arms. CJ is a handful, so we just gotta keep finding ways to show him different looks, which means different guys gotta guard him at different times.\u201d<\/p>\n
Not only that, his effort on the defensive end is contagious. His physicality on the perimeter and willingness to pressure ball handlers set an early tone for the Knicks as a whole.<\/p>\n
The Knicks defense has been inconsistent since the playoffs started. Too often, their perimeter defenders \u2014 particularly Jalen Brunson \u2014 are getting beat off the dribble way too easily and forcing the defense to collapse.<\/p>\n
![\"Jalen](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/nba-playoffs-game-4-new-126409530.jpg\")
Jalen Johnson (1) puts up a shot as New York Knicks guard Josh Hart (3) defends during the second quarter. Charles Wenzelberg \/ New York Post<\/p>\n
Hart has been their best defender throughout the series. And he sparked the best overall Knicks defensive showing on Saturday.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe does what\u2019s asked of him 9.5 times out of 10,\u201d Brunson said. \u201cYou can joke around, say all the things I say about him, but the one thing he\u2019s going to do is go out there and compete. And he\u2019ll do that night in and night out.\u201d<\/p>\n
Beyond being contagious, Hart\u2019s perimeter defense has a domino effect on the rest of the defense.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt makes it easier, because it gives me more time to rotate toward the rim and then also make a read on if the ball handler is gonna pick up his dribble or if he\u2019s going to the rim full speed, because Josh is pressuring him,\u201d OG Anunoby said. \u201cSo it just makes it easier what to do. He\u2019s doing an amazing job being physical, getting into the ball. He\u2019s beating guys up. And that\u2019s what he does.\u201d<\/p>\n
The young, athletic Hawks like to play fast and score in transition. That\u2019s hurt the Knicks at times this series, particularly during their late collapse in Game 3.<\/p>\n
In Game 4, though, the Hawks had just seven fast-break points. That number was zero well into the fourth quarter \u2014 they all came in garbage time when the game was decided.<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\tWhat\u2019s happening on and off the Garden court\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSign up for Inside the Knicks by Stefan Bondy, a weekly exclusive on Sports+.\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\tThank you\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
What allowed them to be so effective in that area?<\/p>\n
\u201cThe players in that locker room,\u201d Brown said. \u201cWe didn\u2019t change anything in transition. Our rules are still the same. We just got back.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Knicks in Game 4 played like a team that understood it was playing for its life. This was most evident on the defensive end.<\/p>\n
Hart was the catalyst.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Just looking at the boxscore, Josh Hart\u2019s numbers don\u2019t particularly jump out at you. But his impact was…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":56263,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[31451,8432,31452,31453,31454,307,41,17],"class_list":{"0":"post-56262","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-switzerland","8":"tag-atlanta-hawks","9":"tag-nba","10":"tag-nba-playoffs","11":"tag-nba-playoffs-2026","12":"tag-new-york-knicks","13":"tag-sports","14":"tag-swiss","15":"tag-switzerland"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ch\/116475349130182663","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56262","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=56262"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56262\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/56263"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=56262"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=56262"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=56262"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}