NEW ORLEANS -- Andre Drummond may have taken home the (admittedly broken) MVP trophy of All-Star weekend’s Rising Stars Challenge, but the most entertaining parts of the exhibition involved Tim Hardaway Jr. and Dion Waiters.
The pair of guards put on a show that began in the first half and carried on throughout the game, and featured the players going head-to-head and draining long three after long three against each other.
“I knew it was going to happen from in the first half,” Waiters said afterward. “We had a little thing going on, and it died down quick. But the second half, he came down and made a shot; I came down and made a shot. He came down and made a shot; I came down and made a shot. And once the crowd got into it, I knew it was on.”
Waiters said his motivation to go at Hardway stemmed from the end of a game between the two teams back on Jan. 30, one which the Knicks won by 31 points and Hardaway launched (and made) a long three with under a minute remaining to beat the shot clock buzzer.
“I told him I owed him from being at the TNT game, and they were beating us pretty bad,” Waiters said. “There was like 15 seconds left, and he came down and chucked up a three and made it. I told him, I’m going to get you back. I’m going to get you back for that. And I was able to get my chance tonight.”
There were actually 51 seconds remaining, but you get the idea.
“Yeah, he talked to me about it before the game and during the game,” Hardaway said. “The only reason why he said that was because on TNT it was a shot clock was running down so I came down and just shot the three. I just jacked the three, and it went in, and it was towards the end of the game. But we had to take the shot, so I might as well. I said I might as well just shoot it.”
Whatever the reason for it, we’re just glad it took place.
