LA Clippers: Adjustments on Luka can also help cool off Tim Hardaway Jr.

Tim Hardaway Jr. continues to show out vs. the LA Clippers.

In his three regular season games vs. the LA Clippers, Mavericks’ shooting guard Tim Hardaway Jr. scored 18, 21, and 15 points in each contest. On 24 three-point attempts, he nailed 12. He shot 21 of 38 (55.3%) from the field.

In Game 1 of the First Round of the NBA Playoffs on Saturday, Hardaway capitalized again.

When he’s on, he’s on; and he performed exceptionally well on Saturday. In 32 minutes, he took 13 shots and hit eight of them (61.5%). He drained five threes out of the nine he took (55.6%).

A big reason why he was so successful is because of Luka Doncic’s dominance. The Clippers tried multiple approaches to stop Doncic, but none were the correct approach. Putting so much attention on Doncic created a lot of opportunities for members of the supporting cast like Hardaway and Jalen Brunson right off of the catch.

Even in the fourth quarter when Doncic was held to a total of one point, and was 0 for 5 from the field (and 0 for 3 from three), the Mavericks still outscored the Clippers as a team. The Clippers double-teamed Doncic for a majority of the quarter, and just throwing bodies at Doncic just takes attention away from other Mavericks on the perimeter.

They were knocking down treys and making nice plays. Hardaway in particular, came through very nicely in the fourth quarter.

After the game, Clippers Head Coach Ty Lue said that he may very well call for Kawhi Leonard to guard Luka Doncic a lot more than the 7.2 partial possessions that Leonard guarded Luka on in Game 1.

If this happens, Hardaway is going to be open much less than what he was this past game. Kawhi Leonard is a two-time Defensive Player of the Year and a six-time All-Defensive Team selection. He’s the best option to guard Doncic.

If Kawhi is on him, they don’t need to double-team him.

Leonard keeping Doncic in check by himself allows the rest of the D to stick to their own assignments and give the proper attention needed to Hardaway, and the rest of Doncic’s supporting cast.

Hardaway’s been a thorn in the Clippers’ side this season. If Lue can make the adjustment on Doncic, however, Hardaway’s quality of opportunities, and quantity of opportunities won’t be there for the taking.