Kidd Dishes Out More Greatness

<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">April 26, 2006 -- Years from now, they will look back on these nights with a fondness that borders on fanaticism, the way Knicks fans get weepy at the mere mention of Clyde or the Cap'n, the way Giants fans get choked up whenever they visualize Giff and Chuckin' Charley, Simms and LT.
Years from now, when Nets fans think back on this time in their history, when basketball fans recall what it was like to watch a point guard perform the craft at the highest level, they will summon this game, and every game just like it that came before it over the last four-plus season, nights when Jason Kidd reminded you of just how splendid this game can be.

Just how beautiful it can look.

"He helps us win," Lawrence Frank said, "just by imposing his will and his personality on the game."

And Kidd helps the Nets win by reminding the world that being a forever point guard means distributing the ball, rebounding it, handling the tempo of a game as if he were conducting the Boston Pops. There are still guys who can do that, after all. Steve Nash does. Chauncey Billups does. At their best, they may even do it better than Kidd can, at age 34.

But Kidd remains the master. He remains the gold standard. On nights like this one, when he led the Nets to a critical 90-75 win over the Pacers that squared their best-of-seven first-round playoff series at a game apiece, he remains the most remarkable testament to what's possible when the leader is allowed to lead and the minions fall into line behind him.

"When he's playing that well," Vince Carter said, "he can take your breath away."

When he's playing that well, it's almost staggering to look at a postgame stat sheet and realize that he scored only six points. It shouldn't be possible to dominate a game as completely as Kidd dominated this one and score only six points. Yet that's exactly what happened.

He grabbed 11 rebounds. He handed out 13 assists. On a night when the Nets needed not only to equalize the series but remind the Pacers, and everyone else, of just how they won all those basketball games in March and April this year, Kidd did just that.

"If I relied on my point total," Kidd joked afterward, "then I'd never have made it to the league. I look for my open teammates, and when you get them the ball it makes the game easier." </div>

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