Jason picked the right time to hit his first shot Saturday, hitting a three-pointer to take the Chicago Bulls to overtime, where Dallas eventually earned a 115-114 win. 

The Mavs came back from a disappointing showing against the Utah Jazz to beat the Bulls, and No. 2 dazzled Mavs fans all night, putting on a passing clinic that resulted in 10 assists, and schooled new kid on the block Derrick Rose on how to play strong defense with a couple of amazing swats that ignited fast breaks.

Jason stood out from the crowd Saturday night, leading Dallas to a 115-114 win (Getty Images).

In a hard fought ball game that saw Jason Terry go down with a broken hand, J-Kidd couldn’t have been any more clutch than he was down the stretch for the Mavericks. Down by three, Jason stepped up and nailed a ball from way down town to tie the game up with 13.1 seconds to go for his first 3 points in the ball game.

Then in overtime, Jason fed Nowitzki with a couple of key assists and connected on a long two-pointer that ultimately let the Mavs steal a victory away from the Bulls.

TALKING ABOUT THE TREY
Jason finished with a strong stat line of 5 points, 4 boards, 10 assists, 2 steals and 2 blocks, but his affect on the game was much greater than all of that.

Teammates were in awe of Jason’s ability to step up and nail the three-pointer that tied the game up with only seconds remaining, as they told Mavs Moneyball afterwards.

JJ Barea talked about J.Kidd having ice water in his veins:

“I knew he was going to make that shot at the end of the game. And then he made another one, he was incredible.”

Coach Carlisle was extremely pleased with the Mavs gritty performance and Jason’s clutch performance:

“Unbelievable performance. Early, Chicago was junking up the game with switching and other stuff. As a team we played a little frantically. I think Dirk was just trying to get it going and he had some looks but they weren’t dropping. But he just stayed patient and stayed in the game. Down the stretch, the shot making was phenomenal. I mean, Dirk’s line is incredible. I thought what Kidd did out there tonight was incredible. He’s in on so many plays at both ends of the court. His five points were the biggest five points of the game. I don’t think there can be any argument to that. He routinely takes the best player down the stretch and does great things when we need him to. My hat’s off to him.”

ADJUSTING
With Terry out for a few weeks with a broken hand, some believe that Jason will have to become more of a scorer in his absence.

J.Kidd though, only plans to shoot more when the situation dictates it. Instead, he feels he’ll stay more in the distributor role unless teams back off of him and the jump shot is wide open.

Jason talked with the Dallas Morning News about how it will be different to play without Terry:

“It’ll be different because he was one of my security blankets. him and Dirk.”

“We’ve got to take better care of the ball, because Jet bails us out a lot of times with the triple.”

NEXT UP
The Mavs have a couple of days to figure off before facing the Sacramento Kings Tuesday at 6:30 pm.

RELATED STORIES
Bulls 114, Mavs 115 (ESPN.com, Feb. 7th, 2009)
http://espn.go.com/nba/boxscore?gameId=290207006
Mavs win in OT: Postgame Quotes (Mavs Moneyball, Feb. 7th, 2009)
http://www.mavsmoneyball.com/2009/2/7/752919/mavs-win-in-ot-postgame-qu
Jet grounded: Dallas Mavericks’ Terry out several weeks (Dallas Morning News, Feb. 9th, 2009)
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/spt/basketball/mavs/stories/020909dnspomavslede.2d3898a.html
Jason Kidd can still jump a little (Dallas Morning News, Feb. 7th, 2009)
http://mavsblog.dallasnews.com/archives/2009/02/jason-kidd-can-still-jump-a-little.html