NEW YORK — Josh Hart scored only three points and shot just 20% in his NBA Finals debut.

Yet the Knicks outscored the San Antonio Spurs by 22 points with Hart on the floor in Game 1, and he played all but four minutes in the second half.

Why?

Because Hart lived up to his last name in Wednesday night’s 105-95 victory at the Frost Bank Center, doing all of the little things in the biggest of ways to emerge as the Knicks’ unsung hero.

“That’s just who he is,” said Knicks teammate Jalen Brunson, who won a national championship with Hart at Villanova. “He’s always been that way. I can’t explain it. He just has a knack for doing things like that, and in crucial times, as well.”

Hart led all players with 15 rebounds, six assists and four steals.

He was at his best in the fourth quarter, corralling six of those rebounds, including four in the final three minutes as the Knicks put the Spurs away.

All but one of Hart’s fourth-quarter rebounds came with Spurs center Victor Wembanyama in the game. At 6-4, Hart is a literal foot shorter than the 7-4 Wembanyama, who finished with 12 rebounds.

“I had a lot of energy,” Hart said. “I think I played like seven minutes in the first half. So I knew I had to clean that up and inject energy.”

Indeed, Hart played only seven minutes before halftime — including just one in the second quarter — because of three early fouls.

The Knicks trailed, 55-48, at the break.

But Hart played the entire third quarter, dishing out three of his assists, including two during a 25-11 run in which the Knicks erased a 14-point deficit.

Hart made an even bigger impact on defense after the Knicks fell behind, 65-51, during that third quarter.

From that point until the end of the game, Hart’s defense was worth +5.5 Net Points — a metric created by ESPN’s Dean Oliver that quantifies every statistic to evaluate a player’s performance. For reference, no other player’s defense was worth more than +2.0 Net Points over that stretch.

Hart had three steals in the fourth quarter, including two that led to Brunson baskets.

The last of Hart’s steals came on a loose ball with 57.3 seconds left after Wembanyama dribbled the ball off of his foot. Brunson’s dagger jumper on the other end turned a four-point Knicks lead into a six-point advantage.

Despite him finishing 1 of 5 from the field and 0 of 3 on 3-pointers, Hart’s +22 was the best of any player in Game 1.

“He made some unbelievable defensive plays and he helped us tremendously in transition,” head coach Mike Brown said. “So, heck of a job by Josh.”

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