By Various Media

New Jersey Nets point guard Jason Kidd spoke with the media on Tuesday. The Spurs currently have a 2-1 lead in the NBA finals. Game 4 is Wednesday night in New Jersey.

Q: Now that you've seen Tony up close for three games, are there parts of his game that remind you of you when you were younger, or are there parts of his game you wish you had, or how do you characterize what you've seen from Tony?

Jason Kidd: Well, I think Tony, his confidence has grown as the series has gone on, and I think the similarities are, you just go out there and compete to try to help your team win. He can get to the basket. He can find the open guy. So, you know, he's truly a point guard. People say that he likes to shoot first, but at the same time, he can find the open guy.

Q: Is there anything that he does better than you?

Jason Kidd: Maybe speak French. (Laughter).

Q: During the last series, Don Nelson said he thought the Spurs had evolved into a team that could play any style, any pace of the opponents, have you noticed that over the last few years?

Jason Kidd: San Antonio is a team that could adjust to any style. You saw that in the Dallas series in one of the games. In the first half, it was 70-65. The other night in Game 3, it was 33-30 at the half. So it just shows that they can -- whatever tempo you want to try to set with them, they are willing to make the adjustment. And so that just shows from the coaching staff to the players that they can adjust on the fly, and also, adjust to any team in this league.

Q: Byron talked about the need to get a little more rest for you, how do you -- are there ways that you can get rest without actually coming out of the game and how confident are you in A.J.'s ability to run the team?

Jason Kidd: Well, we are very confident when A.J. is running the team. He's had some success in the playoffs that he's sparked us. Our bench, there's somebody that's always come off the bench and sparked us. We are very confident with A.J. in his game.

There's always other ways -- but as a player you never want to come out of the game, no matter how tired you are. But to help the team, you have to have a break at some point.

We have confidence in A.J. to get rest during the game. A lot of times, you can play off the ball and grab your rest that way, but in our scheme that we're so active, when you're off the ball there's no time to rest, especially if you double-teamed us. So the best way to get rest is the night before and be geared mentally and physically to go for 48 minutes if you're called upon to do that. But the best time to get rest is during those commercials.

Q: How would you describe the mindset of the team going into this Game 4 and the position that you're in right now?

Jason Kidd: I think that we are very confident that we know what we have to do. San Antonio, they know what they have to do. Our goal is to come out, and we have to win Game 4, to have a chance to win this series. And we have to protect home. We have played well at home all year and it shouldn't stop now. So for us, we have to go out and execute our game plan, be active, get the crowd involved, and put the ball in the basket a couple more times.

Q: The discrepancy in free throw attempts, is that you guys not being as aggressive or something you see with the officiating? And with them struggling from the foul line, does that give you guys a mental boost towards the end of the game where you know if you sent them to the line there's a good chance in a close game that they will miss the free throw?

Jason Kidd: Well, I think if the game is close and if we had to foul or we did foul, we would hope that they would miss, but nine out of ten times it always works against you. For us, we have to be aggressive. It's not the officiating. We can't just settle for jump shots. We have to take the ball to the basket and be aggressive.

And so the officiating has been, I think, great throughout this series and throughout the playoffs. A lot of times, we're forced to foul to send them to the free throw line to see if the theory is right, that they are not shooting the ball extremely well from the free throw line. So far, it's kept us in the ballgame.

Q: You guys pride yourselves on an offense that has a counter for a lot of different things, are they taking away your backdoor cuts, your alley-oops, and is this the toughest defense you've faced yet?

Jason Kidd: Is this the toughest defense? I don't know, we'll have to see once the series is over. But they have made things difficult. I think it's just being patient and understanding and seeing what they are going to give up. And also, we've got to stick to our game plan and keep our patience and not so much feel that one shot is going to get you hot. You just have to understand that.

When everybody touches the ball, we are a little bit better than when it's just one pass and shoot. So just patience and just having confidence and having fun. I think in Game 3, we were not having as much fun after the first quarter. I think we kind of took a step back.

Q: You've talked about Game 4 as being a must-win for you guys. How much are you putting on yourself going into this game tomorrow night?

Jason Kidd: I'm not putting anything on myself. If we want to win the series or have a chance to win, we have to even the series up and go from there. But I'm not putting anything on my shoulders. I'm just going to go out there and have fun and play the game that I love to play. So, you know, I'm not going to try to do anything out of the ordinary, but try to get my teammates in the right position so they can be successful and have a chance to win.

Q: You mentioned the fan support a minute ago. Do you think the fans are starting to catch on with two straight appearances in the Finals, and how much of a struggle has it been in this tough sports market for you guys to get that popularity?

Jason Kidd: Well, it has been tough as you can probably sense. You come into this building this afternoon and you have a sense of champagne and beer. They just celebrated a championship, and so the people of New Jersey are well-deserving of that and the Devils have started that trend. Hopefully, we can follow that up with the NBA Finals trophy.

I think the fans understand how talented this team is to do this two years in a row, and hopefully we can spoil them in that sense and have sellouts all the time and not just for the playoffs.

Q: You guys don't have an alley-oop dunk in three games in these Finals yet, do you miss them?

Jason Kidd: No. I mean, two points is two points. Alley-oop or no alley-oop, layup or a jumpshot, we'll take two points. If they present themselves. Unfortunately, they have not presented themselves yet.

Q: It's an easy way to get two points, though, sort of fun seeing Kenyon and Richard hanging on the rim, too. The fact that you are not getting them, does that show that something is wrong with your offense?

Jason Kidd: Well, I don't think that's -- that's just on the fast break or in a set but that's not our first option, to make K-Mart or RJ jump and hang on the rim. Their job is to execute and take a shot wherever it presents itself. Unfortunately, the alley-oop has not been called upon yet.


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