Friday night marked Isaiah Hartenstein’s first time back at The Garden since leaving the Knicks this offseason, and the hometown crowd was sure to give him a warm welcome.

Isaiah Hartenstein demonstrated what the role could be at its peak. The job as the Knicks’ backup center — at the time occupying the spot behind an injury-prone Mitchell Robinson on the depth chart — could serve as a launchpad to an $87 million deal in free agency.

Thunder center Isaiah Hartenstein signed a three-year, $87 million deal over the summer after two seasons with the New York Knicks. However, he still follows his former team, which he admitted to rooting for during the Knicks’ Christmas Day matchup against the San Antonio Spurs.

Karl-Anthony Towns and Josh Hart each posted double-doubles Wednesday night for the host New York Knicks, who snapped a three-game losing streak by gradually pulling away from the Toronto Raptors for a 112-98 win.

Karl-Anthony Towns had 27 points and 13 rebounds, OG Anunoby scored 27 points, and the New York Knicks beat the Toronto Raptors 112-98

While the Knicks may be judged by measuring sticks, wondering if they are as good as they looked in the recent nine-game winning streak or what went wrong on the three-game losing streak that they carried into Madison Square Garden Wednesday night.