There were so many defining moments of Jason Kidd’s tenure with the Nets. But for some former organization members, including fellow Hall of Fame inductee Rod Thorn, what stands out most was Kidd against Charlotte in the 2002 playoffs. He split his head open in a noggin-to-noggin collision with David Wesley.
“He got hurt in Game 3. We were up in the series, 2-0, and his face got mashed. At halftime he was lying on a table and the doctors were looking at him. His eye was black and blue, swollen shut,” Thorn said. “He went back out to try to play. We ended up losing the game, but the effort that he put in was just unbelievable.”
Kidd played five second-half minutes, got off-day treatment, but according to teammate Lucious Harris, “Looked like he went 10 rounds with Mike Tyson.” But he was ready for Game 4 — with a shaved head. Whenever Kidd shaved his head, victory inevitably followed. No exception here.
“Everybody thought he was not going to play in Game 4, but he was absolutely great in Game 4, which we won and we went on to win the series,” Thorn said. “He went above and beyond the call of duty.”
The Nets had felt very confident about the Charlotte series — and not because they were the higher seed. Baron Davis said some stuff that did not sit well with Kidd and the Nets.
“In that series Baron Davis was talking [trash] and we all said, ‘OK, we don’t have to do anything, it’s done. He’s about to get his ass kicked,’ ” said then-assistant Tom Barrise.
In Game 1 for example, Davis did not score in the final 10:44.
“There were so many defining moments, [such as] when he got his head split open,” Barrise said. “We’re in there at halftime and he’s on the table and the doctors are sewing up his head. We’re going through halftime stuff and he comes walking out on the court. We said, ‘It’s over.’ ”
The Nets won the series, 4-1.