Tim Hardaway Jr. left game with wrist injury
Tim Hardaway Jr. leaves early with wrist injury Friday
Tim Hardaway Jr. left Friday’s game against the Nets with a left wrist injury. X-rays came back negative but he did not return to the game. The Knicks are calling it a sprained left wrist.
After the game, Hardaway Jr. said that he will play in the season opener next week against Atlanta. This injury doesn’t sound serious and his draft stock shouldn’t take a hit.
Tim Hardaway Jr., the first-round Knicks draft pick and All-Rookie first-teamer and would-be Carmelo Anthony sidekick. Tim Hardaway Jr., the trade chip for an impetuous Phil Jackson. Tim Hardaway Jr., the D-Leaguer and ground-up Atlanta reclamation project. Tim Hardaway Jr., the opportune free agent and recipient of a joke-fodder $71 million contract.
And now, entering his sixth NBA season at the age of 26, the dawn of his prime, there is Tim Hardaway Jr., the No. 1 scoring option, the most proven offensive threat for the Knicks at a time when Kristaps Porzingis remains sidelined and Kevin Knox remains unbaptized and the direction of the franchise under new coach David Fizdale is toward the 2019 lottery before anywhere else.
Hardaway does not shirk the label of being the Knicks’ primary option on offense and the focal point of opposing defenses.
“I do see myself as that,” Hardaway said after practice Wednesday, a week before the regular season opens with a Madison Square Garden date against the Hawks, Hardaway’s former team.
“At the end of the day, you have to go out there and be in attack mode but also be smart and get other guys involved. Every time my number is called, I just have to go out and deliver. There’s going to be nights where Kevin Knox, he’s got it going, Enes Kanter, he’s got it going. Any time anyone gets that ball in the basket, we’re going to keep on feeding him.”
The everybody-eats talking point is part of Fizdale’s vision. Hardaway said he has taken to the newly installed offense, which aims to be fast-paced and democratic.
“It’s a fun style,” Hardaway said. “Guys moving, cutting, everybody’s involved in the play. He wants to play fast.
“That’s why we’ve been here as a team a month and a half before preseason as our group to come out here and get into shape, being in shape going into the preseason so we don’t have to worry about that, and being able to go out there and play fast at the start of the season.”
Last season, the first of his second Knicks stint, Hardaway averaged 17.5 points on 15 shots per game, hitting 42.1 percent from the field and a career-low 31.7 percent from 3-point range. In the 24-game sample after Porzingis tore his ACL on Feb. 6, Hardaway averaged 18.7 points on 16.1 shots and 43.3 percent shooting — including a career-high 39-point outburst on March 23 against the Timberwolves.
It’s not a poor baseline for what to expect of Hardaway in 2018-19, at least in the early going. The microwave ability on offense always has been on offer. Fizdale said he came on the scene emphasizing Hardaway’s defense — or lack thereof. That dog-day game against a Jimmy Butler-less T’wolves lineup? The Knicks gave up 108 points and lost by four.
“I challenged him right away,” Fizdale said. “Timmy’s a natural scorer. He knows how to put the ball in the hole. But I want him to be a complete player and really take pride on the other end, and he’s really accepted the challenge. He’s challenging guys in practice, speaking at the film sessions. His competition in drills has been second to none. So I’ve been really happy with his approach about becoming a better defender.”
