Tim Hardaway Jr. will miss at least 2 weeks with lower leg injury

Have you ever noticed how the Knicks don’t seem to be very good without the services of Kristaps Porzingis and Tim Hardaway Jr.? Well at least one of those player won’t be back for a while. Hardaway will miss at least the next two weeks as he undergoes treatment and rehabilitation for a stress injury in his lower left leg.

This is a huge loss for the Knicks, who have struggled to replace Hardaway’s 17.8 points per game, not to mention his surprisingly strong 4.2 rebounds and 3.3 assists.

Over the past two games, Hardaway’s starting spot has been filled by rookie Damyean Dotson, who normally doesn’t see rotation minutes when Hardaway is playing. Head coach Jeff Hornacek outlined his strategy on Monday.

“Dot’s a great shooter. We’re hoping that maybe with the other guys out there he gets some looks. He didn’t get any the other night. But his defense is very good. He gets after guys. And we want to start the game getting that defensive presence along.

“Again, we want to try - we didn’t do it before, but we want to try to keep these guys together in their rotations. With Doug (McDermott) and that bench group, they’re pretty good. With Tim, if he’s out for long we’ll have to take a look at things. Right now we want to keep those rotations the same so plug in a guy.”

The rook hasn’t scored much, but has provided some stout defense. I say keep playing him and let the chips fall where they may.

And now for some good news: Kristaps might be back Wednesday!

Please come back and replace Michael Beasley, Kristaps.