Josh Hart is a step closer to purchasing an expensive timepiece.
“If we move on, I can get a new watch,” the Knicks forward said. “I love watches,so hopefully it adds to the watch collection.”
Hart was referencing the NBA In-Season Tournament and the $500,000 top prize per player, which the Knicks kept alive Tuesday by pummeling the destitute Hornets, 115-91.
The Knicks, as it turned out, needed almost every point. Maybe.
Due to the complicated nature of the tournament’s tiebreakers, it was still unclear whether the Knicks would get a wild-card spot or win their group.
Either way, they’re in the quarterfinals next week.
And Tom Thibodeau, despite declaring he didn’t care about point differential, coached with the goal of running up the score.
Even with a lead approaching 30 points in the final minutes, he kept in leading scorers Julius Randle (25 points) and Immanuel Quickley (23).
Hart, fresh off complaining about his stagnant role in the offense, was more active and dropped a season-high 17 points, shooting an impressive 7-for-10.
It was a bad omen for the Hornets that their coach, Steve Clifford, was inside a local CVS purchasing cold remedies less than four hours before tipoff.
“Under the weather,” he said on the way out, as The Post bought trail mix. “Better stay away, there’s something going around our team.”
Indeed, the Hornets are an inflicted group, most notably with the injury bug. Their biggest star — LaMelo Ball — was the latest to succumb and missed Tuesday’s game at MSG because of a severe ankle sprain sustained two nights earlier.
Charlotte couldn’t keep up with the motivated Knicks, who needed a victory to advance in the In-Season Tournament and came out firing.
They led by 16 in the first quarter, taking advantage of Charlotte’s lack of offense.
For the Hornets, Miles Bridges made his first appearance at MSG since his suspension for, among other things, criminal domestic abuse charges.
The crowd booed him consistently, and most vociferously when Bridges stepped to the foul line.