One thing that is not open to debate about Tim Hardaway Jr. is that when he’s hot, he’s really hot.
And when he’s not, he’s not.
Right now, he’s not. And the Mavericks are aiming to do whatever they can to get their sixth man back in his shooting groove.
Another thing you can be certain of: the Mavericks will not give up on him. Or the entire team, even as they struggle through four losses in the last five games, including Sunday’s 120-116 setback against Philadelphia.
“We all know Timmy’s not shooting the ball well,” coach Jason Kidd said. “We trust Timmy is going to get out of it. The beauty of sports is you got to fail to be successful.
“We were just in Boston and I give those guys a lot of credit. They didn’t just start off winning and going to championships. They had to struggle. And right now, we’re struggling. We got to stay together and stay positive and understand when the ball goes in the basket for us, we’re really good.”
It’s those times when it doesn’t go in the basket that are confounding for the Mavericks. They have not yet found a way to have consistent success when their offense deserts them.
“The next step is if the ball isn’t going in the basket, how do we get stops?” Kidd said. “And that’s what a young team goes through and that’s what we’re going through right now.”
And as for Hardaway, maybe drastic times call for drastic measures. He was 0-for-6 from three-point land Sunday and he’s struggled more often than not for the last couple weeks.
But like all shooters, Hardaway knows there’s only one way to bust free from a slump.
Keep shooting.
And that’s exactly what the Mavericks want him to do.
“Timmy will be better Tuesday (against Indiana),” Kidd said. “My job is to put the guys in that can help us win. But you never turn your back on someone’s struggling. Timmy’s struggling. We know that.
“Our job is to get him open shots, try to get him some easy ones. But opponents aren’t just going to let him shoot.”
Masked man nearing the end? Dereck Lively II has been wearing the protective mask for his surgically repaired nasal cavity since he had the procedure on Feb. 5.
That soon could change, Kidd said.
“I don’t know how much longer, hopefully maybe it comes off this home stand,” he said. “But it’s been some time now where he’s probably getting comfortable wearing it.
“It’s not easy to have an accessory when you’re out there playing, especially when your best players are being double-teamed and you have to be able to play-make and catch and see and sometimes the vision of the mask can blind him at times. But I think he’s done an incredible job with wearing the mask, being able to change shots, rebound and score.”
Lively has seen his minutes gradually increase in the seven games he’s played since returning from the procedure, although fouls curtailed his time Sunday. Against Boston on Friday, he had 15 points and made all seven of his shots.
He actually came into Sunday’s game having made 15 consecutive shots over three games. And he made his first two against the Sixers to get to 17 in a row before missing a jump hook.
Unique situation: When Kidd sat down for his pregame session with media members, he said: Medical report, everybody’s available.
Kidd hasn’t been able to say that very often this season.
And with everybody healthy, the Mavericks are having to adjust to more bodies being available in the playing rotation. It’s an adjustment for sure. Dante Exum was the final piece to return and, once upon a time before he was injured, Exum was slotted in as a starter.
That’s changed now.
“I don’t know about starting and about heavy minutes,” Kidd said. “We ran him at red line and he missed 20-some games. He played a lot of minutes. During that stretch we had a lot of injuries and we asked the guys to do a lot of things. We stretched D-Jones and Exum and put a lot on their plate. And they responded in a positive way and you got to thank them for that.
“But as you get healthy, things are going to change. To say we’re going to play him 30 minutes a night, fully healthy, that’s not going to happen. We got a lot of guys who can play minutes. We need guys to make that adjustment and it’s going to take time. For him, right now, it’s (about) keeping him under 20 minutes and getting him back into a rhythm and at a high level basketball-wise for sure.”
Exum got just eight minutes against the Sixers on Sunday.
Lawson signs new deal: The Mavericks think highly enough of young guard A.J. Lawson that they signed him to a multiyear contract on Sunday.
The 6-6 Toronto native is in his second season with the Mavericks after he signed a two-way contract on Dec. 26, 2022. In 14 games with the Mavericks last year, he averaged 3.9 points and 1.4 rebounds in 7.6 minutes.
In 28 games this season, he’s averaged 3.8 points and 1.2 rebounds in 8.3 minutes. He had a career-best 17 points and seven rebounds in a win against San Antonio on Dec. 23.
X: @ESefko
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