<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>It didn't end the way either side wanted. What breakup ever does? This fresh start with an old team has yet to inspire the confidence Jason Kidd or the Mavericks sought. Kidd doesn't dwell on such weighty matters. All he knows is that the Mavericks need a win tonight at American Airlines Center. The possibility that win will come against New Jersey is secondary. After all, this isn't the first trip around the NBA block or the first trade for the 34-year-old point guard. "You know, we achieved a lot of great things there," Kidd said of his 6½ seasons with the Nets. "Nobody can take that away. They can say what they want. "You take a team from being trash to being respectable, nothing can change that." The Nets were 26-56 before they acquired Kidd in July 2001. He immediately transformed them into a group that won 52 games. A franchise that hadn't won a playoff series since Darryl Dawkins and Otis Birdsong were starters 18 years earlier made the first of two consecutive trips to the Finals. The Nets won four division titles during Kidd's stay. Kidd will tell you he's happy with what he accomplished in New Jersey. Still, pointed comments have emerged from both sides in the 21/2 weeks since the trade with the Mavericks went down. Nets president Rod Thorn said it had become clear that Kidd's heart wasn't into it. The veteran has dismissed assertions that he quit on the team and suggested management hadn't done all it could to keep New Jersey moving in the right direction. The split hasn't been acrimonious. It has the feel of a relationship where the emotion has drained and both sides are tired. A vague sense of loss and resignation exists.</div> Source
