As that news traveled around the NBA, it reached one of his former Villanova stars on the Knicks, Josh Hart. Hart couldn't resist offering a public response to Wright not being a candidate, happily telling his former coach to "stay retired."

The Knicks are apparently targeting experienced NBA head coaches in their search. They're reportedly expected to request permission to interview Dallas Mavericks coach Jason Kidd. The Houston Rockets have already declined a similar inquiry regarding their coach, Ime Udoka.

“We put ourselves in this position,” Hart said Thursday morning at Knicks shootaround ahead of Game 5. “This series could easily have been 2-2 right now, [or] 3-1 us. A couple of mistakes that we made put us in this position.” There was the epic choke in Game 1, when the Knicks led by 14 with 2:45 left in the fourth quarter.