Kidd and Williams remember the three-year anniversary of Kobe Bryant’s death

PHOENIX. Thursday marked three years since the helicopter crash that killed the Los Angeles Lakers superstar. guarded by Kobe Bryant, his daughter Gigi and seven others.

At the time of their deaths, Jason Kidd – the current coach of the Dallas Mavericks – was an assistant coach with the Lakers. According to Kidd, getting over that terrible day is hard.

“It’s been a tough day,” Kidd said ahead of Thursday’s 99-95 victory over the Phoenix Suns. “We played in Philadelphia the night before, so the next day when we flew home to hear the news about what happened with the accident, you didn’t want to believe it. But you found out it’s true.

“For the people who have been hurt – just not for Kobe, but for other families and friends – this is a sad thing.”

Suns coach Monty Williams said the news also hit him hard, especially because his team was in Memphis and hours after they learned of Bryant’s death, they had to play the Grizzlies.

“It was one of the toughest days in the NBA I’ve ever had,” Williams said. “When I heard the news on the way to the game, I wasn’t sure if it was true or not.

“The more your phone started exploding, the more you started hearing that this was the real deal – it really bothered everyone. We have to go into the locker room and look at the faces of our guys who were crying before the game. . .We always talk about putting basketball back in its place, but it’s always was in the right place in our dressing room. We understand people and humanity. To lose someone like that, whether it was a game day or a non-game day, it was just a tough day.”

The hard day that Williams wished for would never happen.

“I didn’t even realize it until I watched TV today and saw it was the anniversary, and when I got the news, I went straight back to Memphis,” Williams said. “I can talk a lot about this, but I think about his family, I think about his wife and these beautiful children, and I just pray that they are in a good place and mourn well. It’s hard to deal with that.”

Williams dealt with his own tragedy on February 10, 2016 after his wife Ingrid died when a driver swerved into a lane and crashed into her car in a head-on collision near downtown Oklahoma City. At the time, Williams was an assistant coach for the Oklahoma City Thunder.

Attributing his personal tragic loss to the loss of Bryant’s widow, Vanessa Bryant, Williams said: “As for me, I just thought about his wife and these children. I was there. I know what it’s like to receive such news, so there was a lot of emotion in our dressing room that day.

“It’s been a tough day not only for the NBA family, but for people in general just because of what Kobe meant to so many people.”

Kidd agreed, saying, “(Bryant) has done so much for this game. Not just for the NBA, but for the women’s game of lighting up the lights with your daughter plays basketball.

“It’s amazing how quickly time has flown by. You say it’s been three years, but there isn’t a day that Kobe isn’t talked about or missed, and that just shows you how strong he was.”

SHORT: Coach Jason Kidd said there is no set timetable for the return of center Christian Wood. “I think it’s just weekly to see how the healing goes,” Kidd said. “We’ll give you another update in a week to see if there’s any healing or improvement there.” Wood broke his left thumb in a 130–122 loss to the Atlanta Hawks on January 18. Although he somehow managed to end that game with 22 points, nine rebounds and two blocks, Wood has remained sidelined ever since. After Thursday’s 99-95 win over the Phoenix Suns, the Mavs are leading 2-2 with Wood on the sidelines. . In the victory over the Suns, the Mavs converted 42.9% of field goals, while the Phoenix only 40.7%. The Mavs also hit the free throw line 28 times – and made 20 – while the Suns were 12 of 16 from the charity streak.

Twitter: @DwainPrice