The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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MICHIGAN IN THE PROS man Mason Plumlee to score 40 of his team's final 48 points. Hardaway and Cleveland Cava- liers guard Dion Waiters traded long three-pointers back and forth on mul- tiple possessions in a personal battle, bringing the crowd — and their team- mates — to their feet. "He really, really got going," Plum- lee said of Hardaway with a smile. "Him and Waiters were putting on a show. But I think that's great for the game. Sometimes these games, I played in them in high school, and they can get really ugly when no one is into it." That wasn't a problem for Hard- away, whose father, Tim Sr., was in the stands. He and Waiters went back and forth with each triple seemingly longer than the next. It was friendly at first, The New York Post reported. Then it got seri- ous. Hardaway put up 23 shots for his game-high point total, while Waiters made 10 of 14 to score 31 with seven assists. Both were in contention for MVP honors, though Detroit Pistons standout center Andre Drummond took home the award. "It was great. We saw the fans stand- ing up, saw [NBA standouts] Kevin Durant and James Harden on the side- lines getting into it, as well," Hard- away said. "It feels great, a wonderful opportunity. You've got to enjoy the moment, embrace it and have fun." Burke (six points on 3-of-12 shoot- ing) also had fun watching his former teammate in action. "It was give the two of them the ball and get out of the way," said Burke. "That's what it turned into — and we didn't plan for that to happen. "They talked about it out there on the court, but I had the ball in my hands, and I'm going to give Tim the ball back. I wanted him to go back at him. He hit a shot, Dion came back and hit a shot, and it became a one-on- one matchup, and it became a great performance he put on out there. I've seen Tim hit maybe six or seven shots in a row like that a couple times, to where he's in that mold, and he's just hot." Burke, meanwhile, earned his sec- ond straight NBA Western Conference Rookie of the Month award, this time for January. He teamed with Portland All-Star guard Damian Lillard to win the all-star skills relay Feb. 15 and a $100,000 donation for the Teach for America and the Wounded Warrior Project. The two navigated the course that tests speed, agility, passing and shoot- ing in a time of 45.2 seconds, just better than the East squad of Phila- delphia rookie point guard Michael Carter-Williams and Orlando shoot- ing guard Victor Oladipo, who fin- ished in 45.3. FORMER WOLVERINES ON NBA ROSTERS Through Feb. 17 • Trey Burke (Played at U-M from 2012-13), PG, Utah Jazz: Has played in 40 games with 38 starts … Averag- ing 30.8 minutes, 12.5 points, 5.5 assists and 3.1 rebounds per game … Posted 11.8 points, 6.8 assists and 3.0 rebounds per contest in January en route to West-