I always get a kick out of the recycled Tony Parker quote about being happy when the Mavericks traded Devin Harris for Jason Kidd. Parker noted that Harris had some great games against the Spurs and he was happy that Harris was gone. Nothing against Kidd, of course.
Anyone who knows the history knows that Parker is being disingenuous. In 2003, despite Parker being the starting guard on the championship team, the Spurs offered Kidd a free agent contract reported to be $94 million and made no secret of the fact that they would trade Parker, who was 21 at the time.
Kidd rejected the offer and stayed in New Jersey, but to this day, Parker has not forgotten it. In fact last season, there was an article by Johnny Ludden of Yahoo Sports! that recounted the situation
Anyway, Parker had a great game with 37 points last week against the Mavericks and he's doing qute well tonight with 15 at the half.
But if you actually watch the game, you'll see why some of the criticism of Jason Kidd's defense on Parker is inappropriate. Kidd guarded Parker some in the first quarter, but in the second half, Parker was matched up with either J.J. Barea or Jason Terry. But no doubt that somewhere tomorrow, somebody will write about how Parker won the matchup with Kidd.
The Mavericks are not the same team that got embarrassed by the Spurs last week and humiliated by Oklahoma City on Monday. They are playing well and trailing the Spurs by only one at the half. While there seemed to be little doubt the Mavericks would play better, the fact is the Spurs are one of the four best teams in the league and even without the injured Manu Ginobili, they won't go away easy.
-- Jan Hubbard
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