Nobody wants to be thrown back to the 2018-19 Knicks, but we’re throwing you back there anyway. This is an OFFICIAL DTB THROWBACK VIDEO. I hope you can withstand the g-forces.
In case you’re not getting my point, I’ll spell it out: Tim Hardaway Jr. was the first option on that crummy 18-19 Knicks squad before he got traded away to a real team with real management (the Mavs). During that time, he basically averaged 20 PPG and basically shot 39% from the field, basically. Nobody had any fun during that time. I doubt even THJ himself was having much fun. The Knicks were losing way too many games for anything relating to that team to be “fun”.
In this game, with Kristaps and Luka out (both of them suffering from fabricated injuries), THJ got to retake the mantle of “#1 scoring option”, if only for one game. And, judging by his success in this game, it’s a mantle that he should be allowed to wear. It’s not a mantle that he “deserves” to wear, nor is it a mantle that he should don all the time, but it’s a mantle that is fine for him to wear every once in a while.
A whole season of chucker-mode THJ is intolerable. We’ve learned that by being forced to witness it. But a single game of chucker-mode THJ? I can get behind that. As long as he doesn’t get a big head about it and start stealing touches from teammates in subsequent games.