Tim Hardaway Jr. was easily capable of these types of scoring performances while he was in New York (and, to a lesser extent, Atlanta). He’s clearly still capable of them in Dallas, but he’s not asked to do it as often thanks to the prominent presence of a certain second-year Slovenian wunderkind named Zoran Dragic.
Wait. My notecards are all screwed up again. Japurri knocked them over. I meant to say Luka Doncic there. Luka Doncic is the second-year Slovenian wunderkind whose presence on the team means that Hardaway doesn’t have to carry the team on his back offensively every night. Japurri, if you’re reading this, you’re not getting any Fancy Feast tonight. Only dry food for bad kitties. Stop meowing at me.
The main difference between THJ’s thirty-burgers with the Knicks and his thirty-burgers with the Mavs is that the ones with the Mavs have purpose behind them. He’s not just putting up tons of points because it’s fun and there’s no other option for the coach to go to. He’s doing it because he’s trying to help his team win the game. Does that mean that his Knicks-era thirty-point games were “empty stats” and this thirty-point game is whatever the opposite of “empty stats” is (“full stats”, I guess)? Maybe it does mean exactly that. Stats accumulated on bad teams aren’t necessarily empty, but they often will be.
I’m going to have to cut this description off here because I have an upset kitty who won’t stop poking me with his paw and meowing. I’m going to give in and give him the Fancy Feast anyway. Japurri is just too cute.