EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP) -All-Star point guard Jason Kidd started for the New Jersey Nets on Friday night in Game 3 against the Toronto Raptors, a day after he missed practice because of a sore left knee.
Nets coach Lawrence Frank had said earlier Friday that Kidd would be a game-time decision, but Kidd took part in the morning workout and said then that he expected to play.
“I feel good,” Kidd said. “I had a bump on the knee. I went to the doctors yesterday and everything will be fine. I’ll be ready to go tonight.”
Kidd hurt the knee in the opening minutes of Game 2 on Tuesday, trying to take a charge against Raptors forward Chris Bosh.
Instead of practicing Thursday, Kidd was seen by an orthopedic surgeon. A manual examination of the knee was performed, but nothing else, Kidd said.
He had physical therapy Friday morning at the Nets’ practice facility before taking part in the shootaround.
“I feel like I will be full speed,” said Kidd, who added the swelling in the knee has gone down. “There shouldn’t be anything I can’t do. This morning I felt great. We’ll see how everything goes tonight.”
Kidd is matched up against the Raptors’ T.J. Ford, one of the league’s fastest players. But Frank wasn’t concerned about Toronto trying to take advantage of a slowed Kidd.
“Be my guest. I’d be careful about going at Jason Kidd,” Frank said before the game. “I’ve seen him play on one leg and take us within a game of the Eastern Conference finals. Jason is going to give his best effort. That’s what he’s all about. That’s why he’s a Hall of Fame point guard. I can’t tell you what to expect. I know with Jason, he’s going to give everything he’s got.”
Kidd has averaged 11 points, 11 assists and 10.5 rebounds in the two games in Toronto, which the teams split.
In 2004, he played 58 minutes on basically one leg in a Game 6 loss to Detroit in the Eastern Conference semifinals.
“It’s the playoffs,” Kidd said. “Bumps and bruises you put aside and do everything to help the team. I’ll just go out and do what I have been doing this series and, hopefully, get a win tonight.”
Kidd said his current injury isn’t similar to 2004, when he needed surgery.
“It’s just a bruise,” Kidd said. “We’re dealing with it. It shouldn’t be any problem. It should not have an effect on me or my performance.”
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AP Sports Writer Tom Canavan contributed to this report.
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