Rumors had Hart being benched after Game 2. Hart was on the bench at the start of Game 3, but played 34 crucial minutes in the comeback win.

“We put ourselves in this position,” Hart said Thursday morning at Knicks shootaround ahead of Game 5. “This series could easily have been 2-2 right now, [or] 3-1 us. A couple of mistakes that we made put us in this position.” There was the epic choke in Game 1, when the Knicks led by 14 with 2:45 left in the fourth quarter.

The eight-year veteran guard has always played above his 6-foot-4, 215-lb frame. He’s relentless on defense and makes hustle plays that don’t necessarily show up in the box score, just like he did in the Knicks’ first win of the Eastern Conference Finals two days ago.