When Jason Kidd intentionally spilled his drink on the floor to stop play in lieu of calling a timeout that the Nets didn’t have late in their loss to the Lakers, it was seen by some as a creative (if dishonest) way to try to ice the free throw shooter with the game on the line in a critical situation.
As it turns out, Kidd learned this little trick from one of the game’s more tenured coaches.
While playing for the Dallas Mavericks, Kidd witnessed it being done first hand by Del Harris, then an assistant coach with the Chicago Bulls.
Dallas led by three with a few seconds remaining after Dirk Nowitzki had just made a free throw, and If he makes the next one, the Bulls would be out of chances, down two possessions without enough time left to make up the deficit.
The Bulls had no timeouts, so Harris spills his drink to force an unnatural stoppage that gives Nowitzki a little more time to think about his game-clinching free-throw.
It didn’t work with Nowitzki, just as it didn’t work against Jodie Meeks a couple of years later. But Kidd thought it was worth a shot, even if it ended up costing him $50,000 to see how it would play out.
[via Mavs’ owner Mark Cuban]
