LOS ANGELES — It was a rare sweet night for Knicks president Phil Jackson and coach Derek Fisher to sweep the season series from their former team, the Lakers, but it also was a gem for Tim Hardaway Jr., the second-year shooting-guard enigma.
Hardaway returned Thursday from a three-game absence with back spasms and lit up Staples Center from deep in pacing the Knicks to a 101-94 victory. Hardaway didn’t regain his starting job — Alexey Shved remained — but he finally regained his shooting touch that was such a big element of last season’s rookie prosperity.
Hardaway’s team-high 22 points was highlighted by his 5-of-7 hotness from the 3-point line. He and Fisher have not seemed to be on the same page, and the Knicks rookie coach admitted Hardaway’s offense has suffered, down to 11.4 points per game and 38.7 percent shooting.
“We’ve been trying to focus on getting Tim to be a better defender this season, and that takes a lot of energy,’’ Fisher said, adding as a result, Hardaway’s shots aren’t falling like last season because of the expenditure on D.
It sounded like another excuse, but at least one theory in figuring out what happened to Hardaway. Steve Kerr, whose Warriors the Knicks face Saturday, voted for Hardaway on his Rookie of the Year ballot, and the Michigan stud finished as a first-team All-Rookie Selection.
Hardaway is not Jackson’s pick (his guy, Cleanthony Early, finally looked good in LA). But there still could be a future for Hardaway. He has one year left on his contract, and Jackson then has a chance in October to exercise his fourth-year rookie option. Fisher made a puzzling remark recently when asked if Hardaway has a future: “Well, he’s under contract for next year.’’
After the game, injured Kobe Bryant and Hardaway spoke for several minutes. The Lakers legend appeared to be giving him a pointer or two. Bryant has a lot of love for these Knicks, and he held a reunion after the game, chatting it up with his former assistants, Kurt Rambis, Jim Cleamons and Rasheed Hazzard, not to mention Fisher.
Byron Scott didn’t enjoy losing again to his buddy Fisher.
“I’m sure D-Fish would like to play us 10 more times before the season’s over,’’ Scott said.
After failing to reach 90 points in their five-game losing streak, the Knicks moved the ball and played smart — even if quietly they are running fewer and fewer triangle sets. Shved and Andrea Bargnani in particular are doing well in a two-man pick-and-roll game. Bargnani made some big plays in the fourth to finish with 16 points, and Shved was the ball-handling leader down the stretch to finish with 14 points, 11 rebounds and six assists.
Overall, a good night for Jackson, who admitted he will retain a few current Knicks not under contract for next season because he doesn’t want to bring in 10 new faces. Only five players are under contract for 2015-16.