Talk about blue balls. As you probably already know by now, Tim Hardaway Jr. had 32 points in the first half of tonight’s game against the ‘Zards, breaking out of his slump with extreme force. Now, only a foolish optimist would think he would continue that performance fully into the second half and score 62, but it was not unreasonable to think that he would score at least 40, simultaneously setting a new career-high. Hell, even 50 was probably a better than even chance at that point.
Turns out, it was unreasonable to think that, because after two more quick buckets in the third quarter, the rim turned into his enemy, and he went scoreless the rest of the way. Oh, and the Knicks lost after being up by 27. “Tim Hardaway Jr. 37 Points/2 Blue Balls” should be the title of this video, because that’s what everyone was feeling as they waited for him to even score a few more points for 40. God damn it. And I was all set to reset my opinion of him from “can’t hit a shot anymore” back to “pretty decent scorer”, but now he’s back to the beginning with me. He regained my trust temporarily, then lost it as quickly as he earned it.
Knicks fans have to keep proper perspective on this, though. This loss may have stung badly, but they have to keep their eyes on the prize: the number one pick in the draft and the chance to draft Trae Young who is totally not going to be a bust and they should absolutely draft him first overall. Yeah.