Kidd, Duncan are old-school all the way to NBA Finals.(Knight Ridder Newspapers)

Byline: Skip Bayless

SAN JOSE, Calif. _ So after all the heat the "going to hell" NBA has taken, after all the tauntin' and tattooin' and dunk-contest dunkin' and the gray-haired yearning for the way the game was meant to be played, it comes down to two superstars who are older school than Cousy and Mikan.

New Jersey's Jason Kidd, in this opinion, is the greatest open-court passer the game has known, including Bob Cousy and Magic Johnson. San Antonio's Tim Duncan is the most difficult to appreciate two-time MVP in league history, a boring, selfless center who has carried what might be the least talented supporting cast ever to win a title.

Kidd and Duncan, who are soul-mate close, show no emotion after making extraordinary plays. No heart-banging. No glowering. Just fundamental, no-frills basketball straight out of Coach Wooden's textbook. Kids, do try this at home.

Kidd vs. Duncan in the NBA finals is a coach's dream and revenge. Break out the Chuck Taylors. Televise Game 1 in black and white. There's hope after all.

Just don't ask me to explain what motivated East Bay product Kidd _ who hasn't always been a coach's dream off the court _ to turn into such a mold-shattering player. It's as inexplicable as why two kids were born in working-class Liverpool with such harmonious voices and simple song-writing genius. Kidd's gift is as rare as John Lennon's or Paul McCartney's.

Kidd, no rocket scientist off the court, was blessed with a basketball genius only a few point guards have known. In order, only Cousy, Oscar Robertson, Magic, John Stockton, Kidd and now LeBron James have had the sixth sense of knowing teammates are coming open even before they do and delivering passes with such accuracy and timing and touch that they can be converted into easy baskets.