Q. You've obviously played in a lot of home playoff games at MSG. But nothing like what we're about to see Monday night. What are you anticipating?
JOSH HART: The Garden is going to be rocking. Obviously in this city we love our Knicks. So we're going to come out, show love, support. The energy is going to be electric.
Q. Also, when you walk around the city and you see everybody wearing Knicks gear, subway stations are painted orange and blue, the atmosphere is electric, what does that feel like as a player?
JOSH HART: To be honest, I'm not doing too much walking around the city right now. To see, it's cool, but for me I try to be as far removed from that as possible, mentally just because if you walk around the city or you go to different places and people are singing your praises and doing all that, it's very easy to get complacent and to listen to those things and start feeling good. Then you start relaxing.
So for me personally I try to stay as far away from that as possible. Even if I go to dinner, I'm going to try to go into a private room or something, so I don't have to be around that because you want to make sure you're as focused and locked in on the goal at hand.
Q. I remember awhile back you had signed on as an ambassador for the local World Cup committee. Did you ever have to tell them like, sorry, I didn't finish with my day job in time, and there is something in New York that's sort of keeping attention away from that right now?
JOSH HART: Obviously I love football, man. So obviously, yeah, a little bummed I can't go to some of those matches, but I have something a little more interesting right now going on in my life.
It also adds to the energy of the city. I think it's something that's really cool. Like I said, bummed I can't go to some of that stuff, but the World Cup is always a special time, and obviously now that it's in the States, it's super cool. So hopefully at some point I can get to some matches.
Q. Those of us that have been around you guys every day we know the process that it's taken to have the kind of level of connectivity you guys have shown these playoffs. Just from your vantage point, how would you describe kind of like that journey as a team? Like obviously I think you guys always try to make it very clear that you guys are in the process of trying to get there, it wasn't always as good as maybe you guys made it seem, but how can you describe it for me, just the journey that that's been?
JOSH HART: Yeah, obviously that started, what, in Abu Dhabi or right before Abu Dhabi, where we talk about what our goals are, what our staples are and what the habits we're trying to build are. In the 82-game season, there's a lot of peaks and a lot of valleys. I think that the most important thing is just to stay even, no matter what it is. Because especially in this city, it's tough. Like I said, you hear praises, you get complacent and then you go down and you start hearing the talk and chatter if you lose one, two, three games.
So it's been a lengthy process. But I think right now we're in a very good mindset of doing our habits, playing our brand of basketball and not really worrying about the outside noise or the accolades or individual performances.
Q. Obviously having been around for a couple years you guys are used to the craziness of the Garden and Knicks fans. Do you think that kind of helps you? Some people are saying this may be the craziest NBA game played ever. The price of the tickets, the celebrities, the president, everybody's who is going to be here. Do you think you're able to block that out just because you've had a lot of craziness before?
JOSH HART: I think so. Because I mean for me personally, especially in college, Coach Wright always talked about we play for the guys in the locker room and we don't really play to the crowd. So for me, I feel like I'm able to kind of tune that out pretty well, just because that guy instilled that in me the four years in college. But the environment, the atmosphere is going to be electric, obviously. We're happy that we're at home and we have them at our back.
I kind of wish the ticket prices weren't as crazy as they are. I feel like a lot of people who have been waiting for this moment for a very long time unfortunately aren't able to get into the building, when the cheapest ticket is 7 or 8,000 dollars. So that's ridiculous. But it's just going to be rocking. But obviously I wish those were a little cheaper.
Q. Wemby doesn't throw the ball off his teammate's back down the stretch there at the end of the game, it might be different. When you look at the film, what are some things that you guys think you need to clean up for Game 3?
JOSH HART: Execution, for sure, in the fourth quarter. I feel like we played a little bit slower. Transition defense wasn't as crisp as it was in the first three quarters. I think if we focus on that, rebounding, we'll be good.
In terms of that play, you never know because you could go down and get a stop. So you never know what play can change a game. But for us, we know that we have to do better. I think we were up like 14 at one point in that fourth quarter, and I think we're the best fourth-quarter team in the league, so we got to make sure that we're locked in and executing in that regard.
Q. Different franchises sometimes are defined by a style of play. This team's got this kind of identity -- Showtime Lakers, fast-breaking teams, stuff like that. As you've grown up in the game and then been here, is there an identity that makes for a great Knicks team? When you think the of the Knicks over the time what kind of makes for a great Knicks team?
JOSH HART: Toughness, grit, physicality, energy. Clutch plays. I think that's what you think of when you think of Knicks basketball. That's something that we want to do. We want to come out with energy. We want to come out with physicality and be focused on the game plan. Especially with the guys that we have in the locker room, we're going to make plays. We're going to make big plays. We're going to do those kind of things. That's kind of our brand, playing fast and having fun.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports