Tonight in New Jersey the Nets host Jason Kidd and the Dallas Mavericks. It’s Kidd’s first game in New Jersey since the team traded him to the Mavericks.
Kidd will be up against the point guard he was traded for, Devin Harris.
With 12 wins and 12 losses, the Nets are doing better than expected this season. And with averages of 23.8 points, 3.3 rebounds and 6.3 assists, the super-quick Harris is turning out to be a better player than many thought.
Harris isn’t a pure point guard, though. He’s a combo guard. Or a scoring point guard. Whatever term you like, that’s him. But his playmaking ability is improving and he’s more comfortable running the show than he was when first coming to the team last year.
Kidd is still a do-it-all, true point guard who this season is averaging just 9.3 points but he continues to fill the rest of the stat-sheet, putting up a fantastic 6.4 rebounds, 8.2 assists and 2.42 steals per game.
Jason is also having his best season ever from three-point range, hitting 40.6% of his threes. His career average is 33.8%. And his best season ever was with Phoenix in 1996-07 when he nailed 40.0% from outside the arc.
Despite Kidd’s success, the Mavericks have 14 wins and 10 losses, and haven’t been as good as hoped. But, it’s still early. The Mavericks are under a new coach, using a new system, and relying on Kidd’s playmaking ability more this year than they did when first acquiring him. While early indications are that Dallas is good, sometimes very good, but not great, I’m going to reserve full judgment until probably early or mid January.
I was going to go cover the Nets-Mavericks game tonight but the massive snowstorm hitting the area right now may prevent me from making it. But if not, I’ll definitely catch it on TV tonight. Seeing Kidd and Harris go at it should be a treat.
–Jeff
