Cal Basketball: How Has Jason Kidd Measured Up vs. Warriors as Player or Coach?

Point guard mopped up bad Warriors teams, but was 0-5 as coach vs. 3 NBA champs.

Jason Kidd grew up in Oakland, just minutes from the Coliseum Arena that was home to the Golden State Warriors his entire childhood.

The scene will be different Wednesday night when Kidd, as first-year coach of the Dallas Mavericks, leads his team against the Warriors in Game 1 of the NBA’s Western Conference finals at the Chase Center in San Francisco.

Either way, it’s a homecoming of sorts for the former Cal star.

This will be the first time Kidd, 49, has faced the Warriors in the playoffs, either as a player or head coach. Still, there is nearly 30 years worth of history between the two.

“We are facing a special team . . .and one of the best coaches (that) ever did it, Kidd said of the Warriors and Steve Kerr.

Jason Kidd / Photo by Brad Penner, USA Today

Here’s a look back at Kidd’s ledger against the Warriors, as both a coach at player:

— Kidd has a 5-8 coaching record against Golden State, including 3-1 this season. That may be a bit misleading: Draymond Green missed two games, Klay Thompson missed another and neither played in the fourth.

— Kidd was 0-5 as coach of the Bucks against Golden State in the 2014-15, 2016-17 and 2017-18 seasons when the Warriors won their three NBA titles.

— Kidd had a 38-14 record as a player with four different teams against the Warriors.

— It’s important to remember just how wretched most Warriors teams were during the era of Kidd’s playing days (1994-95 through 2012-13). Golden State had losing records 16 of those 19 seasons, and Kidd’s teams were just 3-4 against the three winning Warriors squads.

— He averaged 13.5 points, 6.8 rebounds, 9.7 assists and 2.25 steals in 52 career games against Golden State, slightly higher in all four categories than his career numbers.

— As a rookie with Dallas in 1994-95, Kidd averaged 17.3 points, 8.0 rebounds, 10.5 assists and 2.8 steals in four games against the Warriors. He was 3-1 in those games, including a 30-point, 17-assist performance in one of them.

— Among his 107 career triple-doubles, Kidd put together five vs. the Warriors, although he didn’t get his first one until opening night of his seventh season, the 2000-01 campaign.

— Triple-doubles didn’t guarantee victory. Kidd’s teams were just 3-2 in games where he had at least 10 points, rebounds and assists.

— Kidd scored 41 points for the Nets against the Warriors at Oakland on Jan. 23, 2003, the second-most points he ever compiled in an NBA game, trailing the 43 he scored for Phoenix against Houston on March 29, 2001. Kidd and New Jersey lost to the Warriors, anyway.

— One of the great facilitators in NBA history — Kidd ranks No. 2 in career assists with 12,091 — he had at least 10 assists in 31 of the 52 games he played against the Warriors.

— He had 18 assists with the Suns against the Warriors during the 1998-99 season. Still, that pales compared to the game he had for the Mavericks in a 136-133 double-overtime win against the Utah Jazz in his second season when he put together 20 points and 25a career-high assists.

— Kidd also ranks No. 2 in career steals with 2,684, and three different times he had six steals against the Warriors. That’s just one shy of his single-game career best.

Jason Kidd chases a young Stephen Curry / Photo by Matthew Emmons, USA Today

— In Stephen Curry’s rookie season of 2009-10, Kidd averaged 7.0 points and 13.0 assists in four games against the Warriors. Curry averaged 16.5 points and 6.0 assists but the Mavericks won three of four.

— Kidd and Kerr faced off as players 15 times, with Kidd averaging 14.9 points and 10.7 assists, including a pair of triple-doubles. Kerr, a career backup, averaged just 4.4 points and 1.1 rebounds but his Bulls and Spurs teams, featuring Michael Jordan and Tim Duncan, were 9-6 in those games.

Cover photo of Jason Kidd by David Richard, USA Today

Follow Jeff Faraudo of Cal Sports Report on Twitter: @jefffaraudo