Here's to Tim Hardaway

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It was Tim Hardaway bobble-head night at Oracle Arena onMonday night. In a lead-up to the Chris Mullin jersey retirement ceremony onMarch 19, the Warriors are doing the bobble-head thing with Hardaway, MitchRichmond and, of course, Mullin: "Run TMC.".When I get to thinking of Tim Hardaway, I think of a playerwho was relentless, tough and fearless. Few guards took the ball to the hole ashard as Hardaway did.His killer crossover is what many people will remember,but on the end of that move was usually a finish in the lane, sometimes intraffic and a lot of the time in head-shaking fashion.
Hardaway had four seasons with the Warriors in which heaveraged over 20 points and nine assists per game. When he got it going asthey say, he was virtually unguardable.He was a player who could get his shot when he needed to.You couldnt defend him tightly on the perimeter because hed just go by you,and so he always had a makeable 20-footer at hand.He was a fierce competitor, and he had a great love for thegame-within-the game. And that meant his head-to-head matchup with the opposingpoint guards.When Hardaway got scored on, chances were he was coming rightback at the guy. Hardaway was a player who didnt just want to win, he wantedto win two things: the game and his matchup.As competitive as Hardaway was, he almost always did his jobwith a smile on his face and in, lets just say, a vocal way. He was atremendous talker on the courtbut yet always seemed to do it in agood-natured way. Hardaway was the essence of a scoring point guard. He wasnot a consistent outside shooter, but he was good enough and he could bestreaky. Truth be told, Hardaway didnt have to be a great perimeter shooterbecause, in his prime, he got to the basket whenever he wanted.The other thing to remember about Hardaway is this: As goodas he was as a Warrior, he was every bit as good after he got traded to theMiami Heat. Hardaway had a whole nother career after leaving Golden State, andtruth be told, a better onecertainly from a team standpoint.And its a big reason why the Heat have retired Hardaways No.10 jersey.

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