ORLANDO, Fla. – Jason Kidd passed Magic Johnson in one category and moved closer to Isiah Thomas in another.
Kidd last night became the sixth player in NBA history with 9,000 assists and moved past Magic Johnson into fourth place on the NBA’s all-time list of rebounding guards. Kidd got his 9,000th assist on the Nets’ first basket, 31 seconds into the game. Isiah Thomas is fifth in assists at 9,061. But what mattered to Kidd was the 96-95 win over the Magic.
“When my career is over, I’ll have plenty of time to look at my stats,” Kidd said. “Hopefully I can keep climbing the ladder.”
Kidd passed Johnson (6,559) in the first half. He entered needing three to tie and with 10, has 6,566 rebounds. Kidd likely will be second sometime this season – Michael Jordan is currently third (6,672), Clyde Drexler (6,677) is second. Oscar Robertson is first (7,804).
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Bostjan Nachbar said he saw stars when he took an inadvertent Dwight Howard elbow in the third quarter.
“Got me above the right eye. It could have been much worse,” Nachbar said. “I’m OK. I moved out of the way just in time, but it could have been bad. . . . It felt like I was falling for 10 seconds (he was caught by Vince Carter).
Howard won back-to-back Eastern Conference Player of the Month awards.
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Frank said the Nets are taking it intentionally very slow with Nenad Krstic‘s knee rehab.
“He’s done some full-court work. The timetable is going to remain the same as in there is no timetable.”
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Antoine Wright accompanied the team to Orlando and did some shooting, but he didn’t play.