This is very clever by Nets coach Jason Kidd. Oh, he’s going to get a healthy fine from the league for this, but it was clever.
The Nets were down two with 8.3 seconds left in the game and the Lakers’ Jodie Meeks was on the free throw line. The Nets were going to get one last shot to at least tie the game up, but Kidd was out of timeouts to draw up a play.
So he walks out to the edge of the court holding a drink, looks at Tyshawn Taylor and you can see him mouth “hit me.” Taylor dutifully does as his coach asks, Kidd spills his drink and there is in essence a timeout while ball boys try to clean up soda from the court.
Kidd tried to sell this as an accident at his postgame press conference (our Brett Pollakoff was at the game and provides the quote).
“The cup slipped out of my hand,” Kidd said. “I was getting tired. Sweaty palms. In the heat of the battle you’re trying to get guys in and out of the game, and the coke fell out of my hand.”
Riiight.
Kidd used the defacto timeout to draw up one last play, which was a Paul Pierce three as he came off a Kevin Garnett screen. The Nets ran the play but as John Lennon told us “instant Karma’s gonna get you” and Pierce missed the shot. The Lakers hung on for the win.
This is reminiscent of when Kidd the player just ran into coach Mike Woodson drawing a technical — there Kidd was the smart veteran drawing the tech on a coach who had stepped on to the court.
Here, he’s going to get fined. The league office isn’t going to let this precedent get set.
Hat tip to TheBrooklynGame.com for the video.