Pro Blue: Livers sets a season-high mark

Several former Michigan Wolverines went on a hot streak this week, including Tim Hardaway Jr., Franz Wagner, and Isaiah Livers. A few others such as Mo Wagner took advantage of an injury in front of him to beef up his playing time.

Here’s how each of the former Wolverines in the NBA performed this week.

Note: All stats are as of March 7th.

Tim Hardaway Jr., Dallas Mavericks

Hardaway Jr. continued his tear this week despite a rough start on Thursday against Philadelphia (eight points in 20 minutes). In Dallas’ other three matchups this week, he poured in 62 total points while shooting 18-for-29 from three. With an injury to Reggie Bullock, Hardaway Jr. also moved back in to the starting lineup. We’ll see if it sticks once Bullock returns.

Franz Wagner, Orlando Magic

Speaking of hot streaks, Franz also continues to ride that wave. He scored 20+ points in two of Orlando’s three games this week while also chipping in six assists in each of those two performances. This was Wagner’s ninth and 10th occurrences in which he has amassed 20+ points and 5+ assists.

Jordan Poole, Golden State Warriors

Poole started off the week with a bang, dropping 34 points against the Clippers on just 20 shots. However, Steph Curry returned this week, which pushed Poole back to the bench.

Surprisingly, Poole’s minutes didn’t suffer as he still played 28 or more minutes in every contest since. However, his shooting suffered drastically — he is an ugly 4-for-22 from three in Golden State’s last three games, including a 1-for-7 performance in Oklahoma City on Tuesday night.

Moritz Wagner, Orlando Magic

Similar to Hardaway Jr. and Poole, the elder Wagner has taken advantage of an unfortunate injury in front of him. With Wendell Carter sidelined with a hip injury, Wagner has been given back-to-back starts and has rewarded the Orlando coaching staff with solid performances.

On Sunday against Portland, he scored 15 points and grabbed seven rebounds. He backed that up Tuesday with an 18-point, eight-rebound and two-steal performance. It’s good to see him rounding back into form following a rough January and February.

Caris LeVert, Cleveland Cavaliers

LeVert had a pretty ho-hum week this week. He has settled back into his role as Cleveland’s sixth man and in their three contests this week, he didn’t score much (8.3 PPG) but he contributed in other ways. He averaged 5.0 rebounds, 2.7 assists, 1.3 steals and 1.0 blocks. The seven-year veteran is nothing if not reliable at this point.

Isaiah Livers, Detroit Pistons

Luckily, Livers was able to return from his ankle injury rather quickly. The Pistons were unable to ease him back onto the floor as they’ve been ravaged by injuries. He played nearly 40 minutes in a back-to-back earlier this week on Monday and Tuesday. Against Portland, he put up a season-high 17 points along with five rebounds.

The jury is very much still out on Livers’ long-term future in Detroit, so it’s great to see him notch a season-high of any sort.

Duncan Robinson, Miami Heat

Robinson only saw action in one game this week for Miami. He did, however, have a solid shooting performance in that one, scoring 14 points on 3-for-4 shooting from three. It’s starting to appear he may be stashed on the Heat bench. He will need to continue to take advantage of any minutes given to improve his acumen around the league.

Caleb Houstan, Orlando Magic

Houstan appeared in all four of Orlando’s contests this week with wildly different minutes. He saw 4, 9, 16, and 22 minutes in each game, respectively. In three of the four contests, he canned exactly one three-pointer, and that was it. He went scoreless in the fourth game.

Moussa Diabate, Los Angeles Clippers

Diabate spent the week with the Ontario Clippers of the G-League.