Just like a vacation to Cape Cod, Tim Hardaway Jr. got a sabbatical Mike Woodson’s bench at the start of 2014. “My New Year’s resolution will be… Bench my best players! Well except Melo…” Playing under 15 minutes in first 5 2014 games, it looked like it would be a Hardaway Way Back. But as they say, “slow and steady wins the race!” Then how come Andrew Bynum isn’t running track? “Usain Bolt got nothing on me!” Then starting on the 14th, Coach Woody got Timmy Tim more minutes, capped off with 30+ in three of the last four. And man, was last night some straight ballin’! Topping his career-high by 8, Timmay(!) went 29/3/1 in 31 minutes, shooting a sizzling 11-17 FG with 6-12 from deep. “That means he made every shot inside the arc!” Thanks arbitrary remark man! Enough with the quotes this morning JB… This game was virtually over the second Tyler Zeller lost the tip to Tyson Chandler (the ridiculous mismatch on the tip was a nice foreshadowing of the game…) and the Knicks embarrassed the Cavs about as bad as “The Decision.” But while Timmay(!) racked up some points in junk time, the Knicks have won four straight with him helping to stretch the floor. Of course no Iman Shumpert factors in, but there’s no way Coach Woody doesn’t have some morning woody seeing 4 straight wins – thanks to a lot less of Timmay(!) on the pine and more of him on… hardwood. So I think Hardaway Jr. is here to stay as a ThrAGNOF, which isn’t necessarily a derogatory term. Stream him when you can even in shallow leagues! Free points and threes! But not much else… Here’s what else I saw last night in a light slate of Thursday games:
Raymond Felton – Another rainbow line flirt?! He’s craving some Skittles so he’s trying to taste the rainbow! 12/5/9/1/2 and half a rainbow in 4 of 5. Shooting really well lately on top-a-dat. Just like Felton is on top-a-dat buffet! Worth Golden Corral-ing to your roster in all leagues.
J.R. Smith – Looked like an NBA player. And didn’t untie anyone’s shoes! 19/4/2/1/1 is a solid multi-cat, and yea, he’s playing decent lately, but I’m not a Smith guy. He’s my all-hate team starting 3!
Anthony Bennett – The bust giveth, and as soon as he giveth a glimmer, he taketh away. 4/2/1/1/0 in 23 minutes shooting 1-6 (2-4 FT) and after the game asked Felton to save him a seat at the Sizzler.
Dion Waiters – 21 points, great! Aaaaaaaand nada. 21/3/0/2/0 with two treys, while owned in 59% of leagues. Think of all you could do with that spot for ThrAGNOF! Hardaway Jr. owned in 9%. Gus Ayonin’!
Tristan Thompson – Ummmm. Yeah. Foul trouble on top of the blowout. Can you drop him in 10ers? Sure. 12ers… Eh I still wouldn’t, but close, depends on needs and who’s out there. I’m about to lose my bet and have to buy Slim a dinner of roasted dingo.
Goran Dragic – I feel like my past 5 Dragic mentions have been “dude is playing unreal what a steal!” 28/3/7/1/0 shooting 11-21 last night. And don’t sleep on his FG%, which at 49.9 for a PG averaging 1.4 treys a game on top of 19.7 PPG, and wheeewwwww-eeeee! I’m in love!
Morris Twins – One for 15/3/2 the other 16/6/2 I just can’t tell them apart!
Channing Frye – As you know, not a big Frye guy, but nice to see 7/8/2/0/2 with no TOs on an off-shooting night. However, only once has he reached 8 Rebs and once multi-blocks in the past 10. ThrAGNOF!
Lance Stephenson – Trip-dub! Does he get them every game or something?! 14/10/10. I feel like his trip-dubs have all been about like that. Not to sully a trip-dub! “Are you trying to tell me there’s a party in your Lance and I’m invited?”
George Hill – 17 points but no assists. Wait, is this George Hill or Nick Young? Well, he shot 7-8 from the field, so it has to be HIll…
Roy Hibbert – Abused the Suns bigs. 26/6/0/0/2. I will say, it’s good to see the blocks coming back up, he was downtrending 6.0-3.4-1.6 in blocks from Oct-Nov-Dec, back to 2.1 this month.
DeAndre Jordan – 20 boards. The Clippers? 34 team rebounds. Ha! As soon as the opposing team puts up a shot, everyone else just takes off.
Andrew Bogut – So effing productive per minute. 14/17/0/1/3 in only 28:03. Not that he needs to play more minutes! You better stay healthy, A-Bo! You’re my A Boo!
It’s the weekend folks! Sorry for a slightly shorter post this morning, weather rocking our sched’s in the South! Ready for it to warm up and keep the North out of here. I swear I’ve seen the second half of that sentence on a bumper sticker once you get out of metropolitan NC… Have a good weekend!
