April 16, 2008.
American Airlines Center. Dallas, Texas.
New Orleans Hornets versus Dallas Mavericks.
With playoff positioning on the line during the last day of the regular season (If the Dallas Mavericks lost to New Orleans Hornets that evening, they would be relegated to the eighth seed and have to face the very hot Los Angeles Lakers (#1 seed) instead of the Hornets (#2 seed)), the Mavericks goal was to win and secure the 7th seed.
And they did and more.
The more being Jason Kidd’s 100th triple-double.
In just under 37 minutes of play, Kidd was 5-8 from long distance and finished with 27 points to go along with 10 rebounds and 10 assists.
In all honesty, I didn’t think J-Kidd would be able to record his career-high 13th triple-double of the season following the mid-season trade that brought him to the Dallas Mavericks.
Among other things, Jason had to reacclimatize himself to the Dallas weather, familiarize himself with his new teammates, and internalize Head Coach Avery Johnson’s offensive and defensive schemes.
Plus, it seemed as if J-Kidd’s numbers somewhat dipped (which was expected following the trade)—he was rebounding less (more solid “bigs” to gobble up those rebounds) but the points and assists were still there.
So it was a matter time—with a lot of drama to boot—it came down to the last day of the regular season in what was arguably their biggest game of the season.
And it almost didn’t happen.
Kidd said that he didn’t expect to get it because he was just concentrating on staying in front of MVP candidate Chris Paul.
Mavericks’ teammate Jason Terry added that they were trying to help J-Kidd get triple-double #100 during their last two outings (prior to the New Orleans match up) but came up short.
Now here it is—triple-double #100. A feat that puts Kidd in the same category as Oscar “The Big O” Robertson (181) and Earvin “Magic” Johnson (138)—the only other players to record over 100 triple-doubles in their respective careers.
Kidd, is of course, already third all-time in this category.
But you knew that already.
Addendum:
• Jason Kidd recorded his thirteenth triple-double of the season, a feat that serves as his career high (his previous high was twelve that he set last season) as well as the total number of triple-doubles he amassed during his first stint (a little over two and a half seasons) with the Dallas Mavericks.
• Jason Kidd is only the third player to accumulate 100 triple-doubles after Robertson (181) and Johnson (138).
• With 11 points, 9 rebounds, and 9 assists in their 104-92 Game One loss to the New Orleans Hornets the other day, Jason Kidd missed out on what could have been his 12th post-season triple-double. Currently Kidd is sandwiched between Hall of Famer’s Earvin “Magic” Johnson (30) and Larry Joe Bird (10) for 2nd place in NBA Playoff triple-doubles with 11.
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