Michigan Basketball: Former Wolverines stand out on Christmas Day in NBA

Former Michigan basketball standouts Tim Hardaway Jr. and Jordan Poole had stellar days for their NBA teams in Christmas Day victories.

Christmas Day is sort of like the unofficial start of the NBA season. Obviously, the more hardcore fans of the league would disagree with that, but it’s when others who might have been paying more attention to the NFL start to notice pro basketball again.

I have come to enjoy the Christmas Day tradition in the NBA and on Sunday, a couple of former Michigan basketball players stood out during one of the NBA’s biggest days.

Tim Hardaway Jr. and the Mavericks battled the Lakers on Christmas Day and came away with a 124-115 win over LeBron James and Los Angeles.

The Mavs scored 51 points in the third quarter which was a big help in winning the game. They also made 18 3-pointers and six of those were made by Hardaway.

The former Michigan basketball standout was the third leading scorer for Dallas with 26 points. He made 10-of-19 shots from the field and 6-of-14 from 3-point range.

Dallas is now 18-16 and in the No. 8 spot in the Western Conference right now. Hardaway is averaging 13.9 points per game and making 35 percent of his triples this season.

Jordan Poole leads the Warriors to a win

In a playoff rematch from last season, Golden State took on the Memphis Grizzlies and while the Warriors have struggled some this year, in part due to injuries, they found a way on Christmas Day thanks in part to the 32 points scored by Poole in a 123-109 win for Golden State.

Poole did have to do some work to get there with 25 attempts. He made 11 and was 3-of-11 from the 3-point range. For the season, Poole is scoring just over 19 points per game. His 3-point percentage is down a little this season to 31 percent.

Poole shot 36.9 percent last season and was stellar in the playoffs as the Warriors captured the NBA championship. They are 16-18 right now, but there is a lot of basketball to go.