Jason Kidd might have been sitting in New Jersey, counting the days until he returns to active duty. Still, he got an assist for the Nets’ first road victory of the season, thanks to Richard Jefferson.
Technically, it was assist by proxy as Jefferson, the ever-rising fourth-season star, took a lesson he learned from Kidd and used it to help the Nets squeeze out a 111-106 double overtime victory against the Bulls in Chicago Friday.
Lesson No. 1: Won-loss numbers are the only stats that matter.
“One thing I always say I learned from Jason Kidd is that it’s not about scoring,” said Jefferson, who missed a triple-double by one assist (or a quadruple-double if you include turnovers, because he rang up 11). “If you’re not scoring, you could do a million other things on the court to dominate a game.”
Jefferson scored 26 points, grabbed 21 rebounds and handed out nine assists. The last two assists were passes to Alonzo Mourning in the game’s final 84 seconds to secure the victory that averted what would have been a crushing defeat, as the Nets had led by 27.
Jefferson delivered a game-saving shot, bagging a 23-footer with 4.2 seconds left in regulation to force OT. Jefferson – and coach Lawrence Frank – thought the shot was a 3-pointer (in fact, Frank headed to the locker room thinking the Nets won) but the refs huddled and stuck with the right call. Jefferson’s foot clearly was on the line. The Nets got to run off jubilantly two OTs later.
“We’ve been trying to tell people how we play is not going to change. As good as we were in the first half, we were just as bad in the second,” said Jefferson, who led the Nets right back at it last night at home against the high-octane Phoenix Suns (220 points in a 2-0 start). “We didn’t give up. We’re not going to make excuses. We’re not going to feel sorry for ourselves. It would have been real easy to go out and say, ‘Forget it, we lost the game, blew the lead.’ But guys kept fighting.”
And doing things beyond scoring, with Jefferson in the lead playing 57 of 58 minutes. Everywhere in overtime, guys made game-saving plays. There was Jacque Vaughn, who dove, banged his head and skidded, yet saved a loose ball that led to Jefferson’s first assist to Mourning at 1:24. There was Travis Best providing stability alongside Vaughn in the extra sessions. There was Mourning blocking Othella Harrington just before the end of the first OT.
But mostly, there was Jefferson, assuming the leadership mantle worn for three years by Kidd.
“I’m learning. I’m in a new position right now,” Jefferson said. “I’ll be the first to admit – you can tell by the 11 turnovers. I’m not normally turnover-prone. I’m seeing new defenses and I’m adjusting, and late in the game I started to recognize how they were playing and I was able to hit some guys.”
Like Mourning. The Nets center, who played 26 minutes, twice watched Jefferson get picked off on cross-court passes.
“I (told) him just look inside,” Mourning said. “Just throw it up and I’ll go get it. Guys just have to get used to playing with me. A lot of times when they throw it in the air to me, especially on that cross-screen, I’ll go up and get it. I got pretty good hands. He made those plays after a little communication during the timeout.”
Just like Kidd always did.