Bad foot forces out Hardaway
TORONTO – Tim Hardaway Jr. woke up Thursday morning with a sore left foot and, a day later, the pain was so severe he had to remove himself from the 107-84 loss to the Raptors. X-rays were negative, but Hardaway Jr. said the diagnosis is otherwise unclear. He said the pain is at the arch of his foot and the hope is to recover in time for Monday’s game against the Clippers.
“It started to nag, and got worse,” Hardaway Jr. said after limping around the locker room. The 25-year-old still played 33 minutes and scored 13 points on 5-of-13 shooting. Earlier in the season, he played through a sore calf. Hardaway Jr. is averaging over 17 points this season, which would be a career-high if sustained.
JOAKIM ON ROAD TO NOAH WHERE
Even Joakim Noah knows his best days are over. About one hour before he observed Friday’s game in a suit because he didn’t make the active roster, Noah reconciled with the state of his game — and also with the fact that he can no longer recapture his All-Star form.
“Probably not,” Noah said. “I can help. I feel like I could help this team and that’s just my reality. But I just want to, you know, just be the best that I can be. It’s not about trying to be what I was three, four years ago, because it’s not the reality.”
Given the stellar play of Enes Kanter lately, Noah’s acceptance of a diminished state wouldn’t be an issue if he wasn’t owed over $55 million through the 2019-20 season. His contract is untradeable and the Knicks have three centers ahead of Noah in the rotation.
Coming off a 20-game suspension for PED use, Noah was inactive for the third consecutive game Friday. The concession about his game was slightly different than his tone in the offseason, when the 32-year-old was talking on a podcast about his revenge season.
“You guys understand the situation right now. It is what it is. I’m just trying to be the best that I can be,” Noah said Friday. “I don’t know what that is. I’m not playing. I haven’t played in 10 months. I’ve gone through some injuries. I’ve gone through a lot of things. But at the same time this is not — I’m not making an excuse. It is what it is. This is my reality. I’m going to do my best in a team setting. That’s always been who I’ve been.”
After Carmelo Anthony’s contract extension, Noah represented Phil Jackson’s biggest signing when he inked a four-year, $72 million deal last summer. At the time, the owner of Noah’s previous team — Chicago’s Jerry Reinsdorf — declared the Bulls didn’t bid on Noah in free agency because, “We felt Joakim wasn’t going to be a frontline guy anymore.”