The Dallas Mavericks were on a 4-game losing streak, after losing to the Philadelphia 76ers last Sunday. Although the team got their first win of March against the Miami Heat, there are still questions, that loops on Jason Kidd’s squad. Among the ones struggling to find their footing is Tim Hardaway Jr., currently facing a significant shooting slump in his career.
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According to Statmuse, in the last 16 games since January 31, Hardaway has averaged only 10 points, 2.7 rebounds and 1.6 assists per game. Dallas coach Jason Kidd, however, has expressed his faith in the small forward to revive his form this season. According to Sports Illustrated, Kidd remarked,
“They’re human, and so just understand we’ve all been in a slump shooting the ball or playing the game of basketball, or sometimes just in life, we could be in a slump. And so being able to find out who is truly on your side to try to help you through that [is important].”
Coach Kidd explained how the Mavericks team members are trying to support each other through these recent struggles. Grant Afseth, a Dallas beat reporter, uploaded a clip from Jason Kidd’s March 3 press conference on Youtube, wherein he said,
“Maybe we watch Major League, get some Kentucky Fried Chicken, and put that in his locker room. We trust him, he’s getting out of it. That’s what the beauty of sports is. You gotta fail to be successful.”
Surely, watching the 1989 sports comedy Major League together as a team could help the Mavs team build good team chemistry and forget their woes from this season’s slump for a brief while. As reported by Grant Afseth on X, Kidd had previously expressed his faith in Hardaway as well, stating that it is important for the team to allow him to shoot easy and open shots to help overcome this slump.
Jason Kidd on Tim Hardaway Jr.’s impact: “Timmy’s struggling, we know that. Our job is to get him open shots, try to get him some easy ones. When you’re playing the opponent, they’re not just going to let him shoot. We have to continue to put him in a position to be successful.”
— Grant Afseth (@GrantAfseth) March 3, 2024
The Mavs have been quite reliant on Hardaway’s high-volume 3-point shooting to help them gain wins. Kidd also expressed that the Mavs need Tim Hardaway Jr. on their team to further their chances of winning a championship.
Jason Kidd describes Tim Hardaway Jr. as a player the Dallas Mavericks need to win a title: “We trust and need Timmy if we want to win a championship.”
— Grant Afseth (@GrantAfseth) March 4, 2024
However, it might now be more feasible for Jason Kidd to use Jaden Hardy instead of Hardaway, who was scoring easy buckets for the Mavs before moving into the All-Star break.
The Dallas Mavericks were heading in strong for the postseason before the All-Star break
The Dallas Mavericks sit 8th on the Western Conference table, with a 34-28 record in the league. This way, the team could contend for the Play-In tournament against other Western Conference powerhouses such as the Los Angeles Lakers, the Golden State Warriors, and the Sacramento Kings.
This recent slump in performance might be reminiscent of last season for the fans, wherein the Mavs failed to secure a playoff or play-in spot after finishing 11th in the Conference. In that season, the Mavs were dominant till the trade deadline, following which they fell out of even the play-in seed despite having offensive powerhouses such as Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving on their roster.
Despite the win against the Heat, the Mavs are 8th on the table, all while the Lakers and the Warriors are closing in quickly. With just around 19 more games left for the Mavs to finish this season, they must get back to consistently winning to seal their spot for an assured play-in seed by the end of this season.
