Inside the locker room, Skiles had returned from the pre-game press conference. He gathered everyone to go over the pre-game plan.
"Anfernee," Skiles said, looking at Hardaway. "You'll be handling the ball today."
With J Kidd's unexpected injury, what could Skiles do? No matter how frustrated he was, the game had to go on. The first problem he needed to solve was who would take control of the ball now that J Kidd was out.
Move Tony Delk into the starting lineup?
That was clearly not a good option.
Looking at Tony Delk's career, he was not a true point guard. The only thing he could do as a point guard was bring the ball past half-court and then pass it to someone else.
Controlling the pace of the game, passing the ball to where it needed to go—in these aspects, he and J Kidd were leagues apart.
Therefore, after a serious discussion with the coaching staff, Skiles decided to move Hardaway back to the one-spot.
Better to trust Hardaway than anyone else.
