Josh Hart has now hit nine straight threes over his last three games. Though such a streak may have recently prompted reporters to ask the wing for insight into reasons behind his scorched-earth shooting stroke, to New York Knicks fans, this is a development that's been a full season in the making.
Here in his third full go-around donning the blue and orange threads, Hart has been shooting at a career-best clip from beyond the arc and, frankly, putting forth arguably his best all-around production since entering the league nine years ago.
Through 57 games played, the veteran finds himself posting impressive averages of 12.2 points, 7.6 rebounds, 5.0 assists, and 1.1 steals while shooting 50.7 percent from the floor and 40.4 percent from beyond the arc in less than 30 minutes a night.
Of course, even before his recent hot stretch from downtown, Hart was still cashing home on 37.7 percent of his 3.8 attempts per game, which would have been his highest mark since his rookie year back in 2017-18.
Knicks putting Josh Hart in positions to stroke it from deep
Beyond simply finding his rhythm, a major reason for this uptick in production from distance has been due to coach Mike Brown's insistence on using Hart in a Draymond Green-esque role within the offense.
In a nutshell, the 31-year-old has regularly found himself with the ball in his hands out close to the halfcourt, as he's one of the club's best distributors and fast-paced decision-makers.
Opposing clubs are well aware of this and have tried to counter New York's approach by playing off him in anticipation of potentially cutting off a setup elsewhere.
Of course, this has only led to the most open-to-wide-open three-point attempts of his Knicks career (3.6 per game), and, as Hart jokingly put it following Sunday's win over the Wizards, "I guess I'm just throwing the ball up there and fortunately it's going in the rim."
What's perhaps most impressive about the veteran's efficiency from deep is the fact that he's splashing them in at these career-best rates while continuing to deal with significant nerve damage in his shooting hand's ring finger.
Daily Knicks' own Kris Pursiainen has been told said ailment makes simple tasks like gripping the ball rather challenging.
Of course, as is evident from both the eye test and advanced metrics, Hart is not letting this ailment negatively affect his shooting stroke.