After leaving Friday's Game 6 early due to an abdominal strain, New York Knicks wing Josh Hart intends to try to play through the injury in Sunday's Game 7 against the Indiana Pacers, according to The Athletic's Shams Charania.
Hart, 29, had been in pain for most of the game before leaving, with coach Tom Thibodeau saying early on in a sideline interview with ESPN's Cassidy Hubbarth that he's a tough guy and "he'll get through it."
Throughout the game, the wing was wincing in pain, even going so far as to sub himself out in the third quarter to try to deal with the injury. He would eventually leave the game at the 9:53 mark in the fourth and stay on the bench for a minute before heading to the team's locker room. The Knicks ruled him out soon after.
Hart finished the game with five points, eight rebounds and three assists in 30 minutes.
Coming into this game, Hart had averaged 43.6 minutes per game, the second-highest mark in the playoffs behind Tyrese Maxey. His 480 total minutes are the most in the playoffs so far.
The Knicks have been hampered by injuries in these playoffs, with Julius Randle, Mitchell Robinson and Bojan Bogdanovic out for the remainder of the season.
OG Anunoby is also out with an injury and is listed as questionable on the NBA Injury Report for Game 7.
The former Toronto Raptors guard has been out since leaving Game 2 early with a hamstring strain.
You can watch the Pacers and Knicks battle in Game 7 on Sportsnet ONE and Sportsnet+. All action starts at 3:30 p.m. ET / 12:30 p.m. PT on Sunday.
COMMENTS
When submitting content, please abide by our submission guidelines, and avoid posting profanity, personal attacks or harassment. Should you violate our submissions guidelines, we reserve the right to remove your comments and block your account. Sportsnet reserves the right to close a story’s comment section at any time.