As he had emphasized ahead of Saturday night’s induction into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, Tim Hardaway pointed to his second career chapter as a takeoff point to his path to the Springfield, Mass., shrine.
“Thank you,” Hardaway said during his enshrinement speech, “Micky Arison, the Heat organization, Pat Riley, for trusting me to take the team to the next level, when everybody thought I was done.”
It was during those six seasons with the Heat that the rugged 6-foot point guard helped lead the team to six playoff berths, after there had been only two in the franchise’s first seven seasons.
