MIAMI – Josh Hart started Wednesday night as questionable with a lower leg contusion and finished with game highs in rebounds and minutes in a 116-107 victory over the Heat.

Hart, who owns the team’s longest active game streak at 57 (counting playoffs), said he felt pain at first, but managed to overcome it while collecting 14 rebounds in 42 minutes.

He also hit a critical layup with less than three minutes left, giving the Knicks an eight-point lead that Karl-Anthony Towns carried to the end.

Two nights earlier against Cleveland, Caris LeVert accidentally kicked Hart in the leg.

Hart asked out of that game with four minutes left.

“Then it started to swell,” Hart said. “It was just one of those things where I didn’t want to be too proud and say, ‘No, I’m good, I can play,’ and then not be able to be myself and defend or rebound at the level I wanted to. do, especially at the end of the game.

“I made the decision to ask them out and have (substitute Miles McBride) stay in the game, finish it and trust them.”

Hart said X-rays of his shin were negative. He then played all but six minutes of Wednesday’s game.

“That’s what you love about him,” Tom Thibodeau said. “There is no other agenda other than winning. So whatever you ask him to do, he will give you everything he has.”

Thibodeau changed his center rotation in the second half against the Cavs, with Ariel Hukporti taking regular minutes from Jericho Sims behind Towns.

But on Wednesday the coach turned to Sims again, who played nine minutes.

He was part of an eight-man rotation. Thibodeau said it’s part of the initial process of finding a combination that works.

“We are analyzing different things. Jericho has done a really good job. Ariel has done a good job. “We want to see all our players and we are doing it,” said the coach. “But it’s not about an individual player, it’s about the team. And prioritizing winning. Play to win. So wherever you can contribute to winning, that’s where I want the focus to be.”

Rookie Pacome Dadiet was in the rotation for the opener in Boston, but was removed before Game 2.

Precious Achiuwa, who suffered a hamstring strain in the final preseason game, traveled with the Knicks for Wednesday night’s game.

It’s a good sign about the possibility of his availability on the current four-game road trip, with upcoming games in Detroit, Houston and Atlanta.