Raps Hope Nets Stop Kidd-ing Around
Posted April 26, 2007 12:00 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
The rumours are swirling like a spring wind in the Meadowlands.
Jason Kidd, future Hall of Fame point guard and the engine that drives the New Jersey Nets, has missed the two straight team workouts and is a game-time decision when the Raptors visit Continental Airlines Arena for Game 3 of their Eastern Conference playoff series Friday night.
Kidd (pictured) has been battling a sore knee, the same one he had surgically repaired in 2004.
To be sure, Toronto would relish the opportunity to take on New Jersey without its unquestioned leader, but they also know there’s this guy named Vince Carter that needs to be watched closely.
The former Raptors all-star shot a brutal 13-for-43 during his two Air Canada Centre appearances, and some people expect him to go off now that he’ll have the fans off his back, though current Raps superstar Chris Bosh isn’t one of them.
“No I don’t think it’s coming,” Bosh said.
“That’s just me, I have to think like that because I’m on the other team.
“But if he gets 30 points on 30 shots it helps us out a lot.”
The series sits tied at one game apiece after the Raptors scratched and clawed their way to a win in Game 2.
In doing so they not only reapplied the pressure on their opposition with the series now a best-of-five, but forced New Jersey to win at least one game at home to ensure they’ll return to the Garden State once they leave for Game 5.
As for the Raptors, Sam Mitchell’s club is almost entirely healthy, though there’s some concern about rookie big man Andrea Bargnani, who missed more than a dozen games down the stretch after having an emergency appendectomy and has looked like a shell of the player that was once in the running for NBA Rookie of the Year.
“I’m sure mentally he’s a little anxious,” Mitchell admitted.
“And then physically he’s not back to where he needs to be, but he’s working hard to get there.
“I expect Andrea to play better in Game 3.”
The Raptors and their fans certainly hope so, though they can at least take comfort in the fact that he’ll be in the lineup, which is more than anyone can say for Kidd.
