NEW YORK -- "Did you hear New Jersey is offering to sign and trade Jason Kidd for Tony Parker?" I asked Tim Duncan while walking him to the team bus following Game 3 of The NBA Finals, whose highlight, so far, is Dikembe Mutombo turning 90 before the Nets did.

"Are you serious?" Duncan responded in all seriousness. "No, only joking," I confessed. "I think."

That's how anti-pubescent Parker frequently has looked in his magnum match-up against the league's legendary cutthroat.