Tim Hardaway sits against Nets as a precaution
Tim Hardaway Jr. on the Knicks' bench against the Chicago Bulls at Madison Square Garden on Jan. 10, 2017. Credit: Jim McIsaac
Tim Hardaway Jr. was a healthy scratch Monday. The Knicks gave him the day off after he logged nearly 33 minutes in Sunday’s overtime loss to the Pelicans.
Hardaway, who returned Friday from a six-week absence with a stress injury in his lower left leg, was limping toward the end of Sunday’s game. But Jeff Hornacek said he’s fine and this was precautionary. Hardaway worked out before the game against the Nets and is expected to play Wednesday when the Knicks are in Memphis.
“After talking with management for Tim, he played probably a little more minutes than we wanted,” Hornacek said before Monday’s game. “No setback or anything like that.”
Hornacek said there was a chance that Hardaway could play in this back-to-back. But since his minutes crept up to 32:52 Sunday, the Knicks deactivated him.
“We just wanted to make sure that we kind of gradually got him into it,” Hornacek said. “We don’t want to take any chance of overdoing him too early.”
Lance Thomas started in Hardaway’s place.
Al Iannazzone covers the Jets for Newsday after spending nearly two decades on the NBA beat with Knicks and Nets.
