He had simply delivered what was — should still be — the without end cash efficiency within the Nets’ NBA historical past. Jason Kidd had performed 51 minutes, 38 seconds of a 120-109 double time beyond regulation win in opposition to the Pacers, do-or-die Recreation 5, 2002 first spherical on the Meadowlands. Reggie Miller had made one other of his gut-punch photographs to increase the sport, a 35-footer that made Tyrese Haliburton’s Recreation 1 prayer in opposition to the Knicks look like a routine layup.
Didn’t matter. Kidd stole the evening again from Reggie. Kidd: 31 factors, seven assists, eight rebounds. Not epic numbers, however Kidd’s genius as a participant may by no means be defined by integers in a column. You needed to see it. You needed to play with it. Now, one after the other, as Kidd sat in entrance of his locker stall making an attempt to not cross out, his teammates paid homage.
“Even when you see it every day,” Kerry Kittles mentioned, “you can’t believe what he does.”
“He told us, point-blank: ‘We are not losing this game,’ ” mentioned Richard Jefferson, then a rookie. “When your leader commands you like that, you take it seriously. It’s an order.”
