The New York Knicks were at the wrong end of the results as they suffered a humiliating 133-121 defeat against the Orlando Magic. The storied franchise fell apart defensively and never really recovered after suffering an early injury to Landry Shamet. While there were plenty of talking points from the game, the most notable incident arguably happened between Orlando’s Jalen Suggs and New York’s Josh Hart.

During the fourth quarter of the game, Hart picked up a technical foul after fighting for a loose ball with Suggs. The Knicks wing wrapped his right arm around Suggs’ throat, which didn’t look much at first glance, but the replay made things worse than they actually might’ve been. Nonetheless, while Hart received his second technical in the past three games, this incident served as motivation for Suggs and the crowd.

That’s because the incident got the home crowd present inside the Kia Center all riled up. So much so that the Magic fans started chanting “Let’s go Magic.” After which, Jalen Suggs also picked up the cue and took things further up a notch on the court. The Orlando star then went on to finish the game with 26 points, along with 3 rebounds and one assist, contributing significantly to his team’s cause.

However, things did not end there, as after the final buzzer, the 24-year-old guard took things off-court as well. When asked to send a message to the Knicks fans during a radio interview, Suggs said, “They can take their a-s home.” The Magic star seemed to be too fired up after the incident, and might’ve even let out his feelings from Orlando’s playoff defeat to the Knicks from last season.

More so, because from the get-go, there seemed to be a bit of animosity between the two teams following their physical battle a few months ago. Either way, it helped Jalen Suggs and the Magic’s cause. As for the Knicks and Josh Hart, the New York star cleared his stance about the incident after the game, which was on a completely different note than that of Jalen Suggs’ postgame comments.

Josh Hart clears the air around the incident involving Orlando’s Jalen Suggs

Although it seemed like New York Knicks star Josh Hart seemingly grabbed the throat of Jalen Suggs during the fourth quarter, that wasn’t the case. This comes after Hart cleared the air around the ugly incident that occurred during Saturday’s physical clash. When asked about it, the Knicks shooting guard simply said, “It was a loose ball. Obviously, we’re jockeying for the ball. I wasn’t even looking at him.”

The 30-year-old then further went on to elaborate on what really happened during that play. “I was looking at the basketball, and I didn’t realize I hit him in the neck until they slowed it down second by second. A play where bodies are flying and hands are flying. Unfortunately, I got him there. But it was nothing purposeful,” Hart suggested.

“That stuff’s happening like this, I don’t think I had enough time to process on a loose ball grabbing him by the neck,” he concluded. The New York guard pointed out that whatever happened, he didn’t do it on purpose and was rather just a genuine attempt to get to the ball. Hart also stated that there’s no bad blood between him and Orlando Magic’s Jalen Suggs that might’ve prompted him to grab his neck.

All in all, by the looks of things, and Hart’s genuine statement, it does seem like it was just an accident. Still, it should be something the guard should refrain from because even if it’s a mistake, as he suggests, it is mightily costing his team. It is because Hart fouled out in just 29 minutes and had a pretty poor night, scoring just 12 points with five rebounds, which wasn’t ideal, especially with an early setback.

So, this should be something Josh Hart and the Knicks coaching staff will need to look at before they face the Brooklyn Nets on Monday.