Tim Hardaway Jr. has impressed as a rookie — so much so, he played nearly the entire fourth quarter Thursday night against the Bulls, one of the teams the Knicks figure to be fighting and clawing with for favorable playoff seedings.
But on the horizon looms J.R. Smith, who will serve the third leg of his five-game NBA-imposed suspension Sunday. When he returns, Hardaway’s minutes should take a big hit.
“It is a logjam,” coach Mike Woodson said of the perimeter spot, which both Smith and Hardaway play, along with Iman Shumpert, and often Pablo Prigioni. “That’s a good problem to have. But somebody’s not going to be able to play a lot of minutes. So they’ve just got to understand that. When you get your opportunity, you’ve got to make the most of it to help us.”
Hardaway is trying to do just that. In 42 minutes over two games, he has averaged 7.5 points and made 3 of 7 3-pointers.
“In the Chicago game, Tim stepped up,” Woodson said. “He’s a young kid that’s poised.”
“His confidence is sky high,” Carmelo Anthony said. “His work ethic. How much time he puts in. It pays off and shows when he gets on the basketball court.”
Hardaway credits Woodson’s faith for that soaring confidence.
“Coach said before the [Bulls] game, ‘People that are playing well are going to stay on the court and here’s an opportunity to play,’ ” said Hardaway, who hit a 3-pointer that launched the Knicks’ fourth-quarter rally and feels he has shown “heart” to the staff. “Once I heard that, just tried to take advantage, just tried to do the little things: play defense, run the floor hard, box out, defend on the low post.”
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Anthony, Shumpert and Raymond Felton all skipped the contact portion of practice. Anthony shot, but Shumpert and Felton sat after some easy walkthrough work.
Anthony did not see the end of the Nets-Heat game Friday, but he praised Brooklyn for doing what all teams must: defend home.
“Both teams were playing off adrenalin,” Anthony said. “I heard [Miami] lost by one or two points. I don’t really know what happened … That’s what you’re supposed to do, win on your home court. They [the Nets] handled that.”
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Anthony on Minnesota’s Kevin Love, who is averaging 27.5 points and 14.5 rebounds: “He’s a load. He’s a power forward that can go down low. He’s a legitimate power forward. He can step out and shoot threes. He can create havoc. A rebounding machine on both ends of the court.”
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Woodson has been impressed with the Knicks defense (82.5 points per game, .433 field goal percentage).
“I said our defense is probably going to be ahead of our offense,” he said, “and it is right now because we spent a lot of time in camp trying to get the new guys up to speed in terms of how we want to defend.”