ORLANDO, Fla. — Josh Hart plays well in a mess.
The hard hat and lunch pail Knick took over an ugly and choppy game Friday night, cleaning up the boards, throwing his body around the court and dropping a season high in points as the Knicks outlasted the Magic, 108-85, for their sixth straight win.
As the shorthanded Magic clearly aimed to muck up the game, the refs obliged with a stream of whistles that transformed the KIA Center into a snoozefest with free throws galore, challenge reviews, missed shots and zero flow.
After the Magic managed to stay competitive for 2 ½ quarters, the Knicks flexed their talent advantage and created separation in a game tailor-made for Hart.
“The best way to describe Josh is controlled chaos,” Jalen Brunson said. “He figures a way to out-physical, out-tough anybody on the court. That’s just who he is. That’s just in his DNA.”
Brunson dropped 26 points with nine assists, the second time this season he played well in Orlando.
Magic on Dec. 27. NBAE via Getty Images
His podcast partner, Hart, added 23 points with 13 rebounds in arguably his best performance of the campaign.
Hart thrives in the dirt and Orlando mucked it up while committing 23 personal fouls.
The Knicks (21-10), who’ve won 16 of their past 20, took 34 free throws, 14 above their average.
Hart had 10 by himself.
“I like that environment. It’s fun,” Hart said. “I feel like it suits me. It suits my game.”
The Knicks won handily despite hitting just four 3-pointers on 15 attempts, an anomaly in today’s NBA. They held Orlando (19-14) to just 31 points in the second half.
“Defensively we picked it up,” Hart said, “played great.”
For the Magic, the strategy was understandable.
They were playing on the second night of a back-to-back without three of their best players — Paolo Banchero, Franz Wagner and Moe Wagner — who are all out with injuries.
Jalen Suggs, the feisty Magic guard, tried to overcome that disadvantage with 27 points.
But he was also part of the foul-fest, picking up five personals quickly and only managed 26 minutes.
The Magic didn’t have anybody else to score reliably.
“Obviously he had foul trouble and he’s a key factor for them,” Brunson said. “So we were going to attack him and see what he’s going to do. And he got his fifth foul and that kind of changed the way the game went. We got some more stops, got some more easy buckets and kind of ran away with it.”
With the momentum swinging toward New York in the third quarter, the visiting fans took over the Orlando arena, chanting loudly and abundantly, “Let’s Go Knicks.”
It was MSG South for much of the second half.
It was also the third time in December the Knicks faced the Magic, and the third time they beat them.
But the notion of a Knicks cakewalk was extinguished quickly as Suggs knocked down 18 points in the opening half and the teams went into the break tied at 54.
By that point, the game was already physical and drawn by an avalanche of whistles, including a flagrant foul on Suggs for elbowing Towns in the mouth.
Hart stepped into that environment and took over in ways that have defined his career.
“My game is very simple,” he said. “I don’t go out there and try to do ball screens and 18 dribbles, dribble combos and all that. I keep it simple. If I don’t got a layup or a shot, I swing the ball, get these guys the ball. And fit in around them.”