On the court, Jason Kidd looked pained as he ran through drill after drill with the Nets' strength and conditioning coach, Rich Dalatri, and had his twin daughters feeding him tortilla chips while Dalatri stretched him into contortions.

While this went on, Nets Coach Lawrence Frank had seen enough to offer a positive assessment, hinting that Kidd might play on Tuesday night when the Nets play host to the Milwaukee Bucks. But Kidd, who was enduring the rigors of the rehabilitation work on his bruised left knee, was surprised to hear that his coach had found optimism through the pain.

"Well, he's been watching me work out," Kidd said. "So maybe it's a confidence booster that he doesn't see me favoring it or he thinks I can play. So he feels good and I feel good. Hopefully, the hard work will pay off."

But Kidd would not pinpoint a schedule even a day in advance.

"We haven't even talked about it," he said. "We're just trying to get better, and everything went well today. There hasn't been any pain or swelling. We'll take it one day at a time and hopefully, none of that will occur. You know everything has kind of worked out to what we're hoping and planning on. We're putting more time out on the court each day as we go here, as we get closer to the playoffs."