New York Knicks forward Josh Hart poked fun of his former Villanova teammate Mikal Bridges after they beat him and his Brooklyn Nets 105-93 on a Sunday, March 23, matinee at Madison Square Garden.
“It’s like that SpongeBob meme when Squidward is looking out the window and he sees Spongebob and Patrick having fun,” Hart told reporters, per New York Daily News, after the win. “[Mikal] is Squidward.”
Josh Hart is hilarious lmaooo 😂
“It’s like that SpongeBob meme when Squidward is looking out the window and he sees SpongeBob and Patrick having fun. [Mikal] is Squidward.”
Hart hauled down a game-high 13 rebounds while none from the Nets grabbed a double-digit rebound, epitomizing the Knicks’ dominance over their across-the-bridge rivals.
It was the Knicks’ fifth straight win against the Nets.
Bridges scored 18 points, including a 62-foot heave at the halftime buzzer, as he kept the Nets competitive for three quarters.
MIKAL BRIDGES FROM THE PARKING LOT!
Then the Knicks shut him down in the fourth quarter.
Bridges laid a big fat egg in the fourth quarter, missing his three attempts in eight minutes.
The Knicks Are Having Fun
While Bridges is stuck across the Brooklyn bridge with sadness written all over his face after another disappointing loss and staring at elimination from even the play-in tournament, the Knicks, led by his former college teammates, are having so much fun.
Donte DiVincenzo led the Knicks’ fourth-quarter surge to rip the game wide open with 13 of his game-high 31 points.
DiVincenzo scored 10 of the Knicks’ first 12 points in the fourth quarter as they broke away from an 80-80 tie. Hart had the other two points on a putback in that 12-0 Knicks run.
With DiVincenzo catching fire, there was no need for a Jalen Brunson big game. Nonetheless, Brunson, the biggest star among four Villanova teammates, still made his presence felt.
Brunson issued a game-high eight assists with 17 points, four rebounds and one steal.
Knicks fast-rising third-year guard Miles McBride also had his second 20-point game over his last three games. McBride added 26 points in 48 minutes while putting the clamps on Cam Thomas, who finished with only 19 points on 14 shots.
Isaiah Hartenstein chipped in 17 points and 9 rebounds with 4 steals and 2 blocks.
“We’re playing more unselfish basketball right now and that’s fun for me,” Hartenstein told reporters after the win.
Knicks Find Way to Win
Barely 36 hours since a tough 113-110 loss to the defending champion Denver Nuggets in Colorado, the Knicks turned to their defense when their offense wasn’t clicking.
They limited the Nets to just 16 points in the fourth quarter to keep them from reaching the century mark in scoring for their league-leading 22nd game holding their opponents to under 100 points.
“I knew this game would be a challenge coming off the road the way we did,” Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau told reporters afterward. “We just needed to find a way to win, and we did.”
The Knicks were coming back from a 3-1 West Coast trip and have now won four of their last five games to catch the Orlando Magic at fourth place in the East.
With 12 games left, the Knicks (42-28) are just three games outside the second seed, currently held by the 45-25 Milwaukee Bucks.
They are hoping to get Mitchell Robinson back in their next four games, with their first three opponents being lottery-bound.
Robinson is just waiting for the doctor’s clearance to return after he already started joining the team’s practices this week.
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Josh Hart Calls Nets Star ‘Squidward’ After Knicks Win