Josh Hart paid the price as he drove to the basket late in the first quarter of the Knicks’ 127-102 Game 5 blowout loss to the Celtics on Wednesday night in Boston.
The Knicks star took it to the hoop with 3:30 left in the opening frame and was hit near the left eyebrow by the elbow of the Celtics’ Luke Kornet, who was defending in the paint.
Hart immediately went down as blood fell from his face and onto his white Knicks uniform.
He was attended to on the bench, getting a bandage over his eyebrow before he went to the free-throw line and hit both attempts.
Hart was one of the few bright spots for the Knicks in what was a disastrous road loss, as he scored a team-best 24 points by going 7-for-15 from the field.
He also grabbed seven rebounds with two assists in 36 minutes despite taking the elbow.
After going into the second half tied at 59-59, the Knicks were outscored 32-17 in the third quarter, sinking New York.
Hart said there was nothing to like about the quarter.
“We played terrible,” he said. “That was, from the top down, it was a terrible quarter.”
