Knicks’ Tim Hardaway Jr. rested against Nuggets
Tim Hardaway Jr. on the Knicks' bench against the Chicago Bulls at Madison Square Garden on Jan. 10, 2017. Credit: Jim McIsaac
DENVER — The Knicks faced the Nuggets on Thursday night without Tim Hardaway Jr. The team decided to rest him for the first game of a back-to-back, with the finale of the road trip set for Friday in Phoenix.
Hardaway missed 20 games with a stress injury in his lower left leg before returning on Jan. 12. He played 34:47 in the Knicks’ loss to the Warriors on Tuesday and did not practice on Wednesday. Ron Baker replaced him in the starting lineup.
“Everything’s fine,” Hardaway said. “Everything’s fine. Just being cautious of the situation. Ready to go against Phoenix.”
Hardaway did not play in the Jan. 15 game at Brooklyn after playing 32:52 the night before.
The Golden State game featured a fast pace, which Hardaway said was a good test for his recovery.
“It was great,” he said. “Just being able to go out there, get up and down, playing over 30-plus minutes and the leg not really reacting to that in a negative way at all. It was great just to wake up the next morning feeling great. But it’s still early. They don’t want me to play back-to-backs. I want to, but you’ve got to listen and not be too stubborn.”
Kyle O’Quinn missed his second straight game with a strained calf muscle.
Dotson back
With Joakim Noah away from the team for “personal reasons,” the Knicks dipped into the G League and called up guard Damyean Dotson.
Dotson has played in 20 games for the Knicks and 11 for the G League Westchester Knicks. The 23-year-old has averaged 17.9 points in the G League.
“He’s the type of kid who wants to play,” coach Jeff Hornacek said. “After all this having to go back and forth between inactive, we felt it would be good for him to have a stretch of [G League] games. He’s done well, enjoyed playing and is happy to come to us.”
Anthony Rieber covers baseball, as well as the NFL, NBA and NHL. He has worked at Newsday since Aug. 31, 1998, and has been in his current position since July 5, 2004.
