On Saturday night at Madison Square Garden, as he and his team got set to take on the Toronto Raptors, the MSG Knicks faithful serenaded Jason Kidd with a rendition, of Happy Birthday to celebrate his 40th.

But the chorus led by reserve forward Chris Copeland was just an entrée and when the Knicks were done on Saturday night, they’d given J-Kidd the perfect gift.

New York blasted the Raptors 110-84 for their second win over the NBA’s only team from north of the border in as many nights. J-Kidd finished the game with three points, three rebounds, two assists and a steal in just 23 minutes of action. The performance came on the heels of a seven-point, five-rebound, three-assist, one-block performance in Friday night’s 99-94 win in Toronto.

Both games were a perfect representation of what the Knicks offer J-Kidd and what he offers the Knicks. Jason came to New York looking for another chance at a deep playoff run and perhaps a championship. Despite a midseason lull, the Knicks are looking more and more like a team that can do that in recent days and they sport a four-game winning streak as the season enters its final month.

It’s that opportunity that drives No. 5.

"I’ve achieved everything," Jason said when asked about what keeps him going in the league at the age of 40. "It’s about the competition now and trying to achieve the ultimate goal and that’s to be the last team standing. When you fulfill that goal to win you want another one because you know it’s the ultimate feeling of winning a championship. You want that second one just as much as you want the first one."


J-Kidd got to celebrate his 40th birthday with back-to-back Knicks wins (Getty Images).

Likewise, Jason drives the Knicks and inspires his fellow teammates. When they see a player who has been in the league for 18 years still training as hard as day one, it pushes each of them to work even harder. Coach Mike Woodson says it’s that work ethic that sets J-Kidd apart.

"He’s figured out how to train. There are athletes that come along in a lifetime that play various sports, I call them freaks," Woodson said. "They just seem to keep ticking. Nothing seems to bother them or faze them. I think he can play two more years, absolutely. Most guys lose it at … 32, 33 years of age. You’re talking about a kid who’s been doing it for 16, 17, 18 years. That’s a long time. A lot of wear and tear on the body, but obviously he’s taken care of himself and he’s still running up and down making plays, helping you win basketball games."

Jason doesn’t put up the gaudy numbers for the Knicks that he did in his prime, but he still offers plenty to help the team win. According to guard Iman Shumpert, J-Kidd helps by making the right plays at the right time and directing teammates to do the same.

"J-Kidd knows the game just like a coach," Shumpert said. "To have him just in the locker room and to have him on the court, you can hear him always, even if he’s on the bench. He looks at different things on the court I wouldn’t yell out, I know alot of guys around the league wouldn’t yell out. It helps out tremendously."

Jason’s presence helped the Knicks last week when they were without leaders Carmelo Anthony and Tyson Chandler. They overcame the absence of both to win in Utah on Monday, then came home and welcomed Anthony back with a victory over the Orlando Magic.

In his second game back on Friday in Toronto, Anthony was his vintage self. The All-Star power forward put on a show at the Air Canada Centre, scoring 37 points in 43 minutes to help the Knicks to their third straight win.

"He got in a rhythm there, and he carried us," Jason said after the game. "But the biggest thing for me is he was sharing the ball and getting guys involved. I thing that helped him, late in the game, be able to go one-on-one."

But Anthony wasn’t the only one stepping up north of the border. Kenyon Martin made his third straight start next to Anthony and utilized every minute of it for the Knicks on Friday night. In the absence of both Chandler and Kurt Thomas, Martin put up a solid double-double with 19 points and 11 rebounds.

"He’s been great for us," said Jason Kidd, who played with Martin in New Jersey. "If we didn’t have him, we would be in trouble right now."


The Knicks played yet another tight game with the Raptors on Friday night in Toronto (Getty Images).

Behind the strong play of both forwards, the Knicks led the Raptors by 14 points heading into the fourth quarter. Toronto mounted a furious comeback and when DeMar DeRozan connected on a three-point play with 6:18 remaining in the game, the Knicks led by just two, 84-82.

But Martin and Anthony combined to give the Knicks breathing room with a 7-2 run featuring four points from Martin and three from Anthony. Raymond Felton followed with a trey that pushed the Knicks lead back to 10 with just under four minutes to go and they held on for the win.

Their 41st victory on the season clinched a playoff berth, which had been much expected after a remarkable start to the season.

Though their spot was clinched, the Knicks didn’t let up on Toronto on Saturday night, instead pushing even harder to wrap up a home and home sweep with a 110-84 win at Madison Square Garden.

"We can’t take any team lightly. We knew the Raptors were going to come out and give us their best shot. We got a big win tonight at home," Jason said. "It’s hard to beat a team back-to-back, but we wanted to make sure we did that."

The Knicks did so by attacking offensively in the first half. They built up a nine-point lead in the opening quarter, then piled up 38 points in the second to take a 12-point lead into halftime, thanks to 56 percent shooting from the field. Though the shots didn’t fall as often in the third, the Knicks stepped up defensively in the second half, limiting the Raptors to just 37 points on 37 shots as New York cruised to the win.

Martin was big again for the Knicks, following his Friday night double-double with 18 points on 7-of-11 shooting and seven rebounds on Saturday. J.R. Smith added 25 points, allowing Carmelo Anthony, who tallied 28 in just 30 minutes, to rest in the fourth quarter after an extensive outing the night before where he registered 43 minutes played.

Jason was asked afterward about his own modest stats in his birthday game, but said it didn’t matter to him much what numbers he put up personally as long as the team got the victory.

"

[Celebrating] with a win? you can’t get any better than that," he said. "My job is to find open guys, and when I have the opportunity to take a wide-open three, take it. But the game was pretty much under control, so there was no need to look to score, pretty much just play defense and make sure nobody got hurt."

NEXT UP
The Knicks get a couple days of rest before heading on the road to travel to the NBA’s other famous Garden in Boston.

It’ll be an Atlantic Division showdown and possible playoff preview on Tuesday night in Beantown as the Celtics host New York. With the Knicks jockeying for position in the top four of the Eastern Conference and the Celtics mired in a battle amongst the bottom four playoff bound teams, the two could well meet in the postseason.

Currently, the season series is tied at a game apiece with one more to play in the regular season after Tuesday night.

Tip off of game three between the two this year is set for 7:00 p.m. EST and can be seen nationally on TNT.

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