After ‘disrespectful’ chants, Jason Kidd hopes for return of home-court advantage at AAC

Even two hours before tip-off, stepping inside American Airlines Center on Wednesday evening felt different.

It felt as though a weight had been lifted from the Mavericks franchise, a day after the dismissal of general manager Nico Harrison.

And almost immediately, early in his pregame media availability, Mavericks coach Jason Kidd made it clear that he sure hopes AAC’s game atmosphere will be different for his players: No more “Fire Nico!” chants while Mavericks are shooting critical late-game free throws, which occurred during Monday’s loss to Milwaukee.

“We’ll see,” Kidd said when asked by The Dallas Morning News whether the absence of chants would be pressure-alleviating. “We can only hope that we don’t have to go through that again, because it was a little disrespectful, because the guys are playing hard, they’re trying to win.

Mavericks

“Understanding that they got their point across, the fans, but we have to move forward. I understand the healing process for the fans, but these guys are playing hard. Ever since the trade, these guys have given everything.”

Kidd reminded reporters that in the weeks after the Feb. 1 trade of Luka Doncic to the Lakers, the injury-ravaged Mavericks often were down to eight players, yet Dallas clawed its way into the play-in tournament.

“Fire Nico!” chants and fans holding up anti-Harrison fans became the new normal in AAC during the season’s final two months and the start of this season.

“A lot of times we didn’t get credit for playing hard and finding a way to get in the playing game with a lot of money in street clothes,” Kidd said. “And again, we have a lot of guys that are in street clothes.

“We’ve got over, I think, $100 million [in player contracts] sitting on the sideline, and we’re still competing, and we’re still in games, and we’re learning how to win.

“So I would hope that we start to get a little credit for that, because these guys, they can hear those things and they feel really disrespected. And it’s hard to keep guys here in this league, when they start to think that the home team is not home — and then it becomes a visiting place.

“And so hopefully that changes tonight.”

Kidd also spoke about the personal emotion of learning that Harrison had been fired. Harrison and Kidd were hired on the same day, June 28, 2021, and their public introduction news conference was held jointly.

“Any time you lose someone you’ve spent the last four years with, it’s tough,” he said. “But I think when we look at the NBA, the season keeps going. We have to continue to push forward, and that’s what we’re committed to.

“We’re committed to winning.”

How will Harrison’s dismissal affect the team in terms of wins and losses? That’s a question Kidd can’t answer, but he’s long known co-interim general managers Michael Finley and Matt Riccardi and has confidence in both.

“I think we’re talking about basketball, right?” Kidd said. “And so it’s about getting back to x’s and o’s and competing. The two things that we can control is our energy and effort.

“Business is just talked about. We’ve got to push forward. We believe that Riccardi and Fin can do a good job, and they will do a good job.”

Twitter: @townbrad

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