Jason Kidd has kept a calm demeanor throughout his entire first campaign with the Milwaukee Bucks, and on the final weekend of the regular season, he watched his Milwaukee Bucks achieve a season-long goal.
Milwaukee has had a troublesome second half of the season, and entered the final weekend, coming off two tough losses, in need of wins to secure their spot as the sixth seed in the Eastern Conference. But the Bucks mirrored the poise of their coach and took care of business.
After an imperative 99-91 road win over the New York Knicks Friday night at Madison Square Garden, Milwaukee hosted a Brooklyn Nets team also desperate for wins and disposed of Coach Kidd’s former team in a 96-73 blowout on Sunday to clinch the No. 6 seed in the East. The win set a benchmark for the Bucks going forward, and Jason hopes that the postseason will become the standard in Milwaukee.
“Hopefully that becomes the norm here, being able to achieve that goal,” Kidd said of reaching the postseason. “For the guys to sit in that room and make that a goal before we played one game just shows the confidence, and they were willing to pay the price they did to achieve it.”
Establishing a norm is not easy, but for Jason it has become his mode-of-operation. From his playing days to his first two seasons in the NBA as a head coach, J-Kidd has exceeded expectation everywhere he appears.
At the height of his playing career, he took an also-ran New Jersey Nets franchise a 26-win season before he arrived to back-to-back Eastern Conference titles in 2002 and 2003. It was one of many stops during his NBA career that he led a team to set a new bar for themselves. He did the same in Dallas in 2011, captaining the Mavericks to the first NBA title in franchise history. Now he is blazing a trail as coach and on Sunday he became the first coach in NBA history to guide two different franchises to the playoffs in his first season as head coach.
Coach Kidd related his first day of training camp this season to the first day of school, recalling the nervous butterflies, laying out an outfit the night before and meeting the coaching staff for the first time like a student would a teacher. Since that day, Jason has consistently preached hard work, defense and a collective effort offensively to win games.
His principles have set a culture in Milwaukee, and it’s because of those principles the Bucks have made the playoffs and have a chance to finish above .500 for the first time since 2010.
Not to mention that Coach Kidd’s ideologies were a perfect plan to avoid disaster after the Bucks endured season-ending injuries and later had their roster made over by blockbuster trades.
“I think it starts with Kidd,” forward Jared Dudley said. “He should definitely be in the conversation for coach of the year. You lose Jabari (Parker), you lose Larry (Sanders) for the season; Kendall Marshall gets hurt. Then there’s a midseason trade. We were above .500, then we went down after the trade and we’ve come back up. I just think that it is a testament to this team’s depth. I think different guys have gotten hot over different stretches. This is a true team where you’ve had 1 through 15 play throughout the season. I’m happy for everybody here.”
BUCKS TAKE MANHATTAN
Milwaukee kicked off their weekend in another one of Jason’s old haunts, Madison Square Garden, where just two seasons ago J-Kidd helped the Knicks to their best season in nearly two decades, a 54-win season that culminated in a run into the second round of the playoffs.
Since Jason retired after one season in New York to become a coach, the Knicks have fallen hard. They missed the playoffs last season and followed with the worst campaign in franchise history this season. Coach Kidd’s Bucks handed New York their 64th loss of the season on Friday night and they did it with balance.
J-Kidd stayed true to his philosophy and showcased the depth that he has cultivated on the Milwaukee roster.by playing 12 players, three of which logged more than 24 minutes off the bench, .
From the starting lineup, Giannis Antetokounmpo led Milwaukee with 23 points and nine rebounds, while Khris Middleton scored 22 points and had seven rebounds and six steals. Coach Kidd was pleased with Giannis’ performance after Jason chose to sit the Greek Freak on Wednesday against the Cleveland Cavaliers.
“I thought he responded in a positive way,” Kidd said. “I thought he played a great game. Michael played a great game. Those two guys definitely helped us win.”
Michael Carter-Williams scored 19 points, while tallying seven assists and four steals in 31 minutes. The Bucks made 17 steals and converted 26 turnovers by the Knicks into 33 points.
After a mediocre effort in the first half yielded only a 52-49 lead at intermission, the Bucks opened the third quarter with a 17-2 run to break open the game.
The Bucks’ budding big three of MCW, Antetokounmpo and Middleton torched the Knicks all night, and Carter-Williams delivered some great news for the Milwaukee faithful afterwards, describing the growing chemistry between he and Giannis.
“Our pick-and-roll is coming along well and on the break, I’m always looking for him, because I know he’s running his lane and he’s a great finisher,” Carter-Williams said. “Slowly we’re building chemistry. We’re just trying to work at it every day, whether it’s coming back at night and watching film or running pick-and-rolls in practice or whatever it is.”
THE CLINCH
Milwaukee has beaten Brooklyn three out of four meetings this season, and Sunday night it was Ersan Ilyasova who scored a game-high 21 points to bring Milwaukee back to .500 at 40-40.
OJ Mayo scored 17 points off the bench, including three three-pointers, as Coach Kidd played all 13 players who were active for the contest.
The defensive focal point was to keep Brook Lopez from having a big night, and Milwaukee did that.
The Bucks double-teamed Lopez whenever he touched the ball, limiting him to 12 points on 3-of-8 shooting. The seven-foot Lopez was averaging 23.8 points in April and had earned NBA Eastern Conference Player of the Week honors two weeks in a row.
The strategy left the Nets with some three-point looks, but they struggled, shooting just 3-of-18 shooting beyond the arc and shot a season-worst 32.5% overall. It was the third-lowest percentage by a Bucks opponent, and Milwaukee yielded its fewest points in game this season.
Deron Williams had just four points, and he and Joe Johnson were a combined 0-for-8 from three-point range.
“We thought Brook has been their engine,” J-Kidd said. “When he’s going and playing at a very high level, they go. You will never probably see D-Will (Deron Williams) go 1-for-11 or whatever that was. Joe is Joe. He’s going to be able to make big, tough shots. For us, it was just about executing the game plan.”
The Bucks caught fire in the third quarter after leading, 43-41, at intermission.
They went on a 24-6 run to open the quarter, with Ersan Ilyasova scoring 13 points in that stretch as the Bucks opened a 67-47 lead. From then, it was smooth sailing for Kidd’s squad as they easily clinched their postseason spot
After the victory, Jason said his Bucks didn’t just get the spot—they earned it.
“I think their willingness to work and willingness to fight every day (was impressive),” Jason said. “There was no quit. Even when we were down by 15, guys kept playing until the end. That’s the only way you get better. It shows the character of this group. Being young these guys might not know what they achieved, but they understand how hard it is now to make it to the playoffs.”
NEXT UP
The Bucks (40-40) have two final tests in the regular season, where they’ll look to take a pair of victories to eclipse the .500 mark.
The first is Monday night on the road against the Philadelphia 76ers (18-62). The Bucks are 3-0 against the Sixers this season, most recently logging a 104-88 blowout win at home on Feb. 25.
Then the Bucks will finish off the regular season slate at home Wednesday night against the Boston Celtics (38-42), who are currently in the seventh slot and in need of wins to secure one of the final two remaining playoff spots in the East.
Tipoff for Monday night’s tilt in Philly is set for 7 p.m. ET.
RELATED LINKS
- Kidd steers surprising Bucks into uncharted territory (ESPN, April 13, 2015)
- Coach Kidd Postgame (Bucks.com, April 12, 2015)
- Bucks win with inspired performances but don’t clinch playoff berth (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, April 11, 2015)
- Bucks clinch playoff spot in rout of Nets (Milwaukee JS, April 12, 2015)
