The Athletic has live coverage of Celtics vs. Mavericks in Game 3 of the NBA Finals
DALLAS — When Jason Kidd called Jaylen Brown Boston’s best player twice on Saturday, the Dallas Mavericks coach did more than spark a potentially divisive Celtics debate that dominated the media conversation heading into Game 2 of the NBA Finals.
He set the stage for an amateur psychologists convention.
Everywhere you looked, from the Celtics news conferences and beyond, there was a widespread conclusion being drawn that Kidd was, basically, Yoda in a baseball cap. Through the force of his news conference powers, and by putting Brown above Jayson Tatum in his personal Celtics power rankings, he would create the kind of locker room controversy that was clearly intended to help the Mavericks’ chances of winning the Larry O’Brien Trophy. And when the Celtics’ Jrue Holiday added more fuel to that fire a day later, saying on SiriusXM radio that he agreed with the assessment, one could only imagine how satisfied Kidd must have been with how he played these mind games.
“We understand that people try to drive a wedge between us,” Tatum had said in response. “I guess it’s a smart thing to do or try to do. We’ve been in this position for many … years of guys trying to divide us and say that one of us should be traded or one is better than the other. So it’s not our first time at (this) rodeo.”
Brown’s messaging was similar.
“At this point, it’s whatever it takes to win, and we can’t let any outside interpretations try to get in between us,” he said.
Yet according to Kidd, who spent recent days wondering why no one bothered to confirm that he was, in fact, doing his best impersonation of Red Auerbach or Phil Jackson, this wasn’t the manipulative move so many made it out to be.
“It wasn’t mind games,” Kidd, whose Mavericks are down 2-0 heading into Game 3 on Wednesday, told The Athletic after practice Tuesday. “But for whatever reason, everybody took it that way. Everybody was speculating, and no one really asked me that.”
Only Kidd knows if he’d pass a lie detector test on this subject, but he made a valid point about his and Brown’s shared history that had been overlooked in the whole discussion. They both hail from Cal Berkeley, where Brown spent one season playing for the Golden Bears before getting drafted by Boston (third overall) in 2016. Kidd starred for two seasons en route to the Mavericks selecting him second overall in 1994. That connection, Kidd said, has led to a real relationship between the two that dates back to Brown’s time at Cal.
“He has a group of people that he entrusts,” Kidd said. “He’s a Cal Bear — a former Bear, like me.”
While that’s not the sort of thing that would typically shape one’s opinion of a basketball player’s talent on its own, the inference was that it was enough to break the tie. As Kidd explained, though, there was plenty of evidence Brown deserved that kind of lofty praise heading into these finals.
“My whole thing was that, watching the Eastern Conference (playoffs), like, he has been (the Celtics’ best player),” Kidd said. “No one ever said I was wrong. Even their player said I wasn’t lying.”
Well, sort of.
While Holiday agreed with Kidd’s assessment initially, he decided to start his news conference after Game 2 with an opening statement in which he amended his prior stance. Never mind that Holiday had just been the star of Boston’s 105-98 win, finishing with a team-high 26 points on 11-of-14 shooting. His focus, at least in those opening minutes when the cameras started rolling, was on the great Celtics debate that will never die.
“I do not prefer one or the other,” Holiday said. “I prefer both. Both of them are superstars, and it’s being shown out here on the biggest stage in the world.”
Kidd noticed that Holiday clarified his comments but was confused as to why he deemed it necessary.
The obvious answer, from this vantage point: politics.
“Oh, OK,” he replied. “There must be some truth to it. I didn’t know there was truth to it. Like, I was just giving it from a point of view of watching. There wasn’t no mind games. I was just making an observation.”
(Photo of Jason Kidd: Maddie Meyer / Getty Images)