Tim Hardaway Jr. spent components of 4 years with the Knicks, however the veteran guard-forward had not appeared in a playoff recreation at Madison Sq. Backyard earlier than Saturday.
Initially the Knicks’ first-round choose in 2013, Hardaway was by no means a part of a profitable season with the group over two separate stints, each of which ended with him being traded away.
However Hardaway, now of the Detroit Pistons, returned to the Backyard for Saturday night time’s Sport 1 of their first round-playoff collection in opposition to the Knicks — one in all a number of key Pistons with New York ties.
Fellow starter Tobias Harris hails from Lengthy Island and was as soon as a mega-prospect popping out of highschool.
Isaiah Stewart, the Pistons’ bruising backup middle, grew up in Rochester.
Backup level guard Dennis Schröder started the season with the Nets and was traded twice earlier than he ended up with Detroit.
All 4 are vital function gamers who helped remodel the Pistons from the worst staff within the NBA final season to an Jap Convention No. 6 seed that’s enjoying with home cash in opposition to the closely favored Knicks.
“We’ve been playing basketball our whole lives, basically,” Hardaway, 33, stated forward of Sport 1. “Just go out there, have fun, enjoy the moment and stick to what the coaching staff has been implementing all season.”
After the Knicks drafted him out of Michigan, the 6-5 Hardaway completed fifth in Rookie of the 12 months voting in 2013-14 and have become a part-time starter the next season.
In the course of the 2015 offseason, the Knicks traded Hardaway to the Atlanta Hawks for the draft rights to protect Jerian Grant. However after two seasons with Atlanta, Hardaway returned to the Knicks on a four-year, $71 million contract.
General, Hardaway made 254 appearances, together with 131 begins, with the Knicks and averaged 13.8 factors per recreation. He was scoring a career-high 17.5 factors per recreation when the Knicks included him within the January 2019 commerce that shipped Kristaps Porzingis to the Dallas Mavericks.
Detroit acquired Hardaway from the Mavericks final summer season in a deal that despatched guard Quentin Grimes to Dallas. The Pistons had acquired Grimes from the Knicks a couple of months earlier.
Hardaway was the primary of a number of veterans added by Detroit — Harris and Malik Beasley have been the others — to complement an ascendant younger roster that had not realized methods to win but.
These three, every of them succesful 3-point shooters, proved to be robust enhances to play-making franchise cornerstone Cade Cunningham, who averaged a career-high 9.1 assists throughout his first All-Star marketing campaign.
Hardaway began every of his 77 appearances within the common season, averaging 11.0 factors per recreation whereas capturing 36.8% on 3-pointers.
Harris, in the meantime, entered Saturday with one thing Hardaway didn’t: playoff expertise on the Backyard.
Final yr, Harris was a part of the Philadelphia 76ers staff that misplaced to the Knicks within the first spherical in six video games. Harris averaged 9.0 and seven.2 rebounds per recreation in that collection and was held scoreless in Sport 6 in Philadelphia.
However Harris’ New York connection dates again a lot additional.
The 32-year-old energy ahead was born in Islip, N.Y., and cut up his high-school basketball profession between Half Hole Hills West in Dix Hills and Lengthy Island Lutheran in Brookville.
Harris was named Mr. New York Basketball and a McDonald’s All-American for his senior season at Half Hole Hills West in 2010 and was a consensus five-star recruit when he dedicated to play at Tennessee.
He signed a two-year, $52 million contract with the Pistons final summer season and averaged 13.7 factors and 5.9 rebounds per recreation in 73 appearances, all begins, this season.
Harris and Hardaway are two of the few Pistons gamers who entered Saturday with playoff expertise. Detroit’s different three starters — Cunningham, middle Jalen Duren and ahead Ausar Thompson — have been making their postseason debuts in Sport 1.
“Our preparation is a key factor in why we’re in the position we’re in today,” Harris stated earlier than Sport 1. “I’m proud of this group. … I know these guys want it and are always eager to learn and listen. We put all that to play every single day.”
Stewart additionally hadn’t performed in a postseason recreation earlier than Saturday. The 6-8 middle spent his freshman and sophomore years at McQuaid Jesuit Excessive College in Rochester earlier than he transferred to a basketball prep program at La Lumiere College in La Porte, Ind.
Now in his fifth NBA season, the rim-protecting Stewart, 23, is a driving power within the bodily identification that the Pistons embraced throughout their turnaround.
Additionally becoming that description is Schröder, whose hounding protection continues to pester opposing level guards.
The Nets initially added Schröder in a February 2024 commerce with the Toronto Raptors, then traded him to the Golden State Warriors in December. Lower than two months later, the Warriors then spun Schröder to the Pistons within the multi-team commerce that despatched Jimmy Butler to the Bay Space.
Schröder, 31, averaged 10.8 factors and 5.3 assists per recreation in 28 appearances, together with eight begins, with Detroit.
Detroit additionally rosters Daniss Jenkins, who performed level guard underneath Rick Pitino at Iona and St. John’s, however he appeared in solely seven NBA video games as an undrafted rookie this season. On Thursday, Jenkins was named to the G League All-Rookie Crew after averaging 21.2 factors and seven.2 assists per recreation for the Motor Metropolis Cruise.
The Pistons (44-38) went 3-1 in opposition to the Knicks (51-31) within the common season and averaged 13 made 3-pointers per recreation in these conferences, throughout which they shot 41.3% from behind the arc.
However Hardaway — who performed in 42 playoff video games with the Hawks and Mavericks, together with a visit to the NBA Finals final yr with Dallas — cautioned in opposition to studying into that head-to-head success in opposition to the Knicks.
“It’s a new season now, so all that stuff was preparation,” Hardaway stated. “We worked our tails off to get to this situation, to put ourselves in this position, to go against a phenomenal team.”
