Player of the Week – Tim Hardaway, Jr.

Tim Hardaway, Jr. has lit up the scoreboard, and the basket, with his recent hot streak that leads to him being The Lottery Mafia’s Player of the Week.

Looking back over the recent TLM Lottery Player of the Week articles, I noticed that I appear to have been inadvertently neglecting the Eastern Conference.  Perhaps this isn’t overly surprising given the disparity in competitiveness between the East and West but after LaMarcus Aldridge, Kendall Marshall and Courtney Lee’s recent shoutouts, it’s time to move things back towards the Atlantic.  Trawling through the highlights of the lottery teams in the East does not make for particularly pleasurable viewing, and trying to draw positives from the play of those teams below Toronto in the standings is far from the easiest of tasks.  This week’s selection however gets the nod after a recent surge in production that has led to him becoming arguably the second best player on the team’s (underperforming) roster, thus forcing himself into late contention for the Rookie of the Year Award.

Tim Hardaway, Jr. was taken 24^th by the Knicks in the 2013 draft and probably didn’t anticipate he’d be seeing 30 mins a night by late January.  I mean, with the likes of JR Smith coming off his sixth man of the year campaign and with Shumpert, Felton, and Prigioni all having spent time at the two-guard spot, he probably envisaged a season in which he was slowly introduced to the top level of the sport and garnered his playing time when Melo and Co. had put the game to bed.  Now we all know that the Knicks’ season has been a disaster from the get-go, and I certainly did not anticipate they’d be a team I’d get to cover when agreeing to write for a Lottery-focused site, but four months in to the season, here we are.

Over the past seven days, the Knicks welcomed the Celtics, the Cavs, and the Heat to MSG and came out with a 2-1 record.  Victories over the Celtics and Cavs had them riding a four-game win streak into Saturday’s showdown with Miami, but unfortunately they were brought crashing back to earth in a 15-point blowout loss. However, Hardaway, Jr.’s play through these three games has been nothing short of spectacular and requires looking at on a game-by-game basis.

First up, the Celtics and a 114-88 win in which Hardaway, Jr. finished the night with 16 points on 5-10 shooting, including going 2-4 from deep and 4-4 from the line.  He played a shade over 33 minutes, was +10 for the game and continued to show that he is more than capable of providing the spark off the bench that so many others before him were expected to bring. He provides intensity at both ends of the floor and is showing himself to be equally as adept knocking down the three ball as he is driving through the lane for the easy lay-up. It’s worth noting that one of the reasons Hardaway, Jr. slipped as low as 24^th in the draft was doubts over his ability to hit from beyond the arc.  Throughout his time at Michigan, he was known more as an all-around scorer rather than a threat from deep but appears to have taken great enjoyment in proving the doubters wrong and in fact leads all rookies in 3-point percentage at 41.9%.

Next up came one of the other major disappointments in the East this season, the Cleveland Cavaliers.  The Knicks came out 117-86 winners and Hardaway, Jr. had a career night going for 29 points in just over 30 minutes of play.  Whilst 29 points is impressive in itself, bear in mind that 18 of these came in the fourth quarter alone and six came on back-to-back threes just as Cleveland had cut the lead down to 14 and threatened, albeit briefly, to force a close last couple of minutes.  Over the course of the game, Hardaway, Jr. knocked down six threes which tied a Knicks rookie record with Nate Robinson, now of Denver, and Toney Douglas, now of Miami.  Though the casual NBA viewer may well remember this game for JR Smith breaking Tristan Thompson’s ankles, the more seasoned viewer should note this as the night Hardaway, Jr. really made a league-wide statement.

Unfortunately for the Knicks, they came up against the two-time defending champions on Saturday night who had nothing but revenge on their mind following the 102-92 loss they suffered in early January.  Hardaway, Jr. had a solid, yet unspectacular night, totaling 17 points on 7-14 shooting but was helpless to stop LeBron and the Heat strolling to a 106-91 victory.

Hardaway, Jr. has rightly been invited to take part in this year’s Rookie-Sophomore game at the All-Star Weekend, and with his continued play, he could be well-poised to make a late run for Rookie of the Year honors.  MCW has been struggling since his phenomenal start, and other contenders like Oladipo and Olynyk are failing to light up the stat sheet.  Over the past five games, Hardaway, Jr. is averaging 17.9 points on 55.2% shooting, and if he can continue to post anywhere close to that, then his name will be there or thereabouts come season end.  Looking past this season, the Knicks are clearly overpopulated at the guard spots, and with a number of them failing to live up to expectations, Hardaway, Jr. could be looking at an even bigger role in their future.

Career night v. Cleveland

By Marc Harries
Follow @Marc_Harries