Knicks’ Josh Hart (lower back contusion) available vs. Hawks: ‘I’m always questionable’

ATLANTA — A lower back injury wasn’t going to keep Knicks forward Josh Hart off the court for Game 6. The Knicks downgraded Hart to questionable on Wednesday after he left Game 5 with what the team called a lower back contusion with five minutes left in regulation on Tuesday. Ahead of tipoff against the Hawks in Game 6 on Thursday, head coach Mike Brown said Hart would be available to play in a closeout game on the road.

“I’m always questionable depending on how my body feels,” Hart said at his locker ahead of tipoff on Thursday. “It was the back kind of locked up and then it went down to my hip, so that kind of happened the first quarter [of Game 5]. And then I tried to play through it the second quarter, and then at halftime it got a little tighter.

I couldn’t really move too much. ” Hart received treatment on his lower back before the Knicks ruled him available to play. The injury was concerning given Hart endured a bout with lower back spasms during the Knicks’ preseason opener in Abu Dhabi in October.

Those back spasms sidelined him for three weeks, causing Hart to miss the Oct. 22 regular-season opener against the Cleveland Cavalier. He made his season debut the following game against the Boston Celtics on Oct.