Like Magic? Scott’s Not Kidding Around

Liz Robbins of the New York Times, commenting on the play-making skills of Jason Kidd and the surprising New Jersey Nets who have a 32-15 record, best in the Eastern Conference at the All-Star break: “Kidd’s most significant assist is the boost he has given to his team. Like the alley-oop passes he lobs as a challenge for his teammates in the half-court offense, or the bounce passes he rifles to a sprinting Kerry Kittles on the break, he has elevated his teammates to a level they have never experienced before....

“Byron Scott, the Nets’ coach, pays Kidd the ultimate compliment. He said Kidd reminds him of Magic Johnson, Scott’s former teammate and close friend.”

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Trivia time: Which player has participated in the most NBA All-Star games?

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Unprecedented: Ron Rapoport in the Chicago Sun-Times on the Detroit Pistons’ decision to cut ticket prices by as much as 45%: “‘I think they’re keeping an eye on us,’ Pistons executive Dave Wieme said with a laugh, indicating there might be some teams that don’t wholly approve of the idea. ‘We’ve had people tell us it’s totally against the grain. But we just thought tickets prices are getting out of hand, and we had to do something to change it.’

“What they did was guarantee they would lose money this year.”

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Yo, I! In college football recruiting, Georgia Tech landed a player who would have to qualify for the “all-name team”: defensive back I-Perfection Harris of Brooklyn Poly Prep.

I-Perfection is his given name. His nickname? Just plain I.

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Trash talk: Duke Coach Mike Krzyzewski on the trash talking prevalent in college basketball: “Kids think that’s the way of being tough, that that’s part of gamesmanship. It’s put out there [by the media] and you get notoriety. It’s always been there because of the competitive nature of the game. What we need to do is make sure it doesn’t become a prominent part.”

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Not a bad life: Karl Malone of the Utah Jazz has been in the NBA since the 1985-1986 season, but he doesn’t have any immediate retirement plans, saying: “I don’t know what else I’d be doing right now. You can only hunt so much, fish so much, drop the kids off so much at school. So I choose to work, and it pays pretty decent too.”

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Looking back: On this date in 1962, Jim Beatty became the first American to break the 4-minute mile indoors with a 3:58.9 in Los Angeles.

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Charged up: From the Caught on the Fly column in the Sporting News: “Out in Boltland, Marty Schottenheimer and John Butler could be prime arm-wrestlin’ partners, as whispers from Mike Riley’s regime say the front office flexed its muscle when it came to personnel calls [Flutie v. Brees] and practice speed [keep ‘em fresh for Sundays, the suits reasoned]. This could be verrry interesting since Riles is country club compared with Martyball’s boot camp.”

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Trivia answer: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, 18.

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And finally: Golf World magazine reports that courtesy cars for pro golfers are now longer the perks they once were.

Some players who played in the recent Heineken Classic in Melbourne, Australia, chose to commute to the course by helicopter and avoid traffic jams.

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Mal Florence