Kidd’s triple-double powers Nets to an easy win
On the shoulders of the injured(?) Jason Kidd and Vince Carter, the New Jersey Nets powered their way to a 102-89 victory over the Toronto Raptors. Coach of the year, Sam Mitchell and Raptors leader, Chris Bosh laughed when asked if they thought Kidd was really hurt. And Mitchell went as far as calling it a “so-called injury”.
Jason Kidd missed practice because of a bruised left knee. Not only did that not stop Kidd from being in the starting line-up, he contributed in a historic way. Kidd posted his 10th postseason triple-double, scoring 16 points, 16 rebounds and 19 assists.
“The thing that is unique about Jason is that, on any given night, he can have a triple-double. The fact he almost did a 20-20-20 deal is remarkable,” Nets coach Lawrence Frank said. “With Jason, in terms of the knee, once he puts that uniform on, you’re going to get his best effort. It’s just his will.” “I don’t know if he’s healthy or not, but he did do something special,” teammate Vince Carter said. “He definitely played phenomenal on both ends. I’m just glad that he was able to come in and play tonight.”
Vinsanity scored a game high, 37 points and also chipping in with 2 rebounds, 5 assists and a block. And he didn’t do it from behind the arc, like he’s been trying to for recently. He was able to dominate down low, posting up on and scoring at will at everyone that tried to guard him.
“Vince came out early and took it to us. That was the thing we were afraid of,” said Toronto’s Mitchell. “He started making some tough shots. I thought Jason Kidd, with the supposed so-called injury, was unbelievable. He dominated the basketball game. As good as Vince was, Jason Kidd was part of everything. He rebounded, assists. He made big shots. Every time we made a little run, he made a play.”
The Nets now lead the series, 2-1 and they play their next game is on Sunday at 7:30 PM ET on TNT.
Shaq and Wade aren’t enough to stop the Bulls
The defending NBA Champs are now one loss away from being sent home after they let a 4th quarter lead go Friday night. The Miami Heat fell to the Chicago Bulls, 104-96 standout(and my favorite . The Bulls were led by former UConnHuskie), Ben Gordon and his 27 points and Luol Deng’s 24 point effort.
The Heat let a lot of leads get away from them, including a 12 point lead, a 7 point lead(at halftime) and a 4 point lead(at the end of the 3rd quarter) go. Besides the blown leads, they only got significant production from two players, and I bet you can’t guess who. Ok, i’ll just tell you, Shaquille O’Neal and Dwayne Wade. Wade lead all scorers with 28 points and also had 9 rebounds, 5 assists and 3 steals and the Diesel had 23 points, 13 rebounds and 2 blocks. Besides those two, the rest of the Heat players scored just 45 points(12 from Walker and 10 from Posey).
For the Bulls, Kirk Hinrich posted 22 points and 6 assists, to addition to Deng’s 24 points he also had 11 rebounds and 3 assists and Gordon had 5 rebounds and 2 assists to go along with his team leading 27 points.
“Nobody has came back from 3-0, and we don’t want to be the team that it’s done against,” Deng said. “That has to be something we’re focused on — to know this team can really pick up how they play.”
“It’s only one win. We know we have to win four instead of three,” Bulls coach Scott Skiles said. “But in a game where we weren’t playing that well and things weren’t going our way, we were able to overcome it.”
The Bulls lead the series, 3-0 and their next game is also on Sunday at 1:00 PM ET on ABC.
