Savoir-Faire

Posted by Rob Mahoney on April 22, 2010 under xOther |

The Spurs may have won the day, but Jason Kidd had the play of the game. Feast your eyes on this:

If Kidd goes all the way to the basket, he makes (or misses) a layup, gets fouled, or pulls the ball back for the secondary break. Instead, after seeing that the taller, faster Richard Jefferson was running alongside him, Kidd employed a different strategy: cut off RJ using his reluctance to draw a foul (Jefferson isn’t going to just trample over Kidd on his way down the court), run directly in front of him, and stop. It’s not a new technique, but this application is pretty unique: Kidd didn’t just draw a foul, he drew a clear path foul. Creative and masterful, Kidd never ceases to amaze in his ability to make the old new again.

EDIT: Something I noticed upon prompting by Henry Abbott: if you look at the clip around the 10-second mark, you’ll see Jason Kidd’s right forearm make contact with Richard Jefferson, almost guiding RJ into position to commit the foul once Kidd stops. It’s impossible to know exactly what happened there or what Kidd was thinking from this video alone, but it looks sly, eh?

Tags:

  • Steve Armstrong
    That is what you call "Basketball SMARTNESS".
  • NBA Fan
    Sly, or cheap? That is probably based on where you call home.
    Chris Paul has a very similar maneuver. After a miss, he runs past a lumbering 7 footer, cuts in front of him and then slams on the brakes. He could do that 20 times a game, but doesn't. I bet he knows that it is a cheap shot and if he over uses it, there might be a rule change (or the refs might stop calling it).
    Derek Fisher has a number of moves that could be considered sly/cheap. Most involve grabbing and holding an opponent in a covert way to get the foul. In the last couple of years, the refs have gotten wise to some of the moves and have stopped calling as many things in his favor (even some he should have gotten). [insert crying wolf anology here].
    There are many examples of players who do sly things to get free throws. The bottom line is this; Kidd is a HOF player and has many legit ways of drawing fouls. On the play in question, he could have made one of his spectacular passes to Marion who was trailing the play. That would have gotten the crowd into the game and amped up the rest of the team. Instead, he effectively told the Spurs that he was desperate enough to pull a "old white guy at the YMCA trick". It didn't work out too well.
  • rag
    He clearly did all of it on purpose. Almost as good as running into Woodson for the technical, despite garnering more points. Kidd is wily like a fox, for sure.
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