DALLAS - During their current six-game winning streak, Mavericks guard Tim Hardaway has played his best ball since he came over from Miami before the start of this season, averaging 15.5 points per game coming off Don Nelson's bench.

Hardaway, a starter for much of his career, struggled early in the season getting into the rhythm of games as a reserve. Nelson implored Hardaway to pass more. But Nelson also figured that Hardaway would be helped by changing the Mavericks' rotation, which would mean letting Hardaway play more minutes with the starters.