Jason and four other Mavs scored in double figures Tuesday night as the team shot 55.3 percent from the field, and ran away with a 118-100 victory over the Sacramento Kings.
The Mavs knew that without Terry it would take a total team effort to make up for the loss of his 20 points per game, and that’s exactly what happened in their victory over the Kings Tuesday night.
J.Kidd’s double-double led the way as his 15 points and 12 assists set the tone for the Mavericks offense. With a +/- of +39 for the game, it’s obvious that when Jason is on the floor good things happen for the Mavs.
Mike Fisher of Dallasbasketball.com described Jason’s leadership best:
“One of the stars of Tony Cubes “PALES’’ system is Jason Kidd, and you know, this marks yet another win in which the veteran PG simply does so many little things just right that end up leading the way to success. Some of it is the way he conducts his basketball business. Some of it is the way he has an uncanny knack for making the late-game, in-the-clutch steal/block/assist and yes, even shot.”
“The Kings didn’t up a long enough fight to require Kidd’s fourth-quarter heroics, but he put his stamp on this win in another way – just as Carlisle predicted he would before the game, when the coach said Kidd “will be upto his neck’’ with Terry-less responsibility.”
“Kidd met that responsibility with real live measurable statistics. Not just PALES. Not just leadership. Not just subtle stuff. Big fat stats.”
“He scored 15 points on 6-10 shooting, made three of his five 3-point tries, pulled down seven rebounds, dished a dozen assists and had four steals. (Has he really had four steals in a game 13 times? Can that be right? And by the way, by my rough count (it’s late and I’m tired) Kidd’s on a streak of about 11 games where he’s scoring about 11 per.”
FANS CORNER
Mavs fans continue to express their delight with the recent play of Jason Kidd and his leadership that has led to a 31-20 record in the first half of the season.
Here’s what they are saying on the Mavs Blog:
Posted by K:
Please you guys don’t even know. 3 more rebounds I would like!!! You don’t know how much a monster Kidd is. He had 13 triple doubles last year. not 3 years ago… last year!!! He was a starting PG for the nets in the east. THe nets got a guy who is a back up for the East and would not even be in the top 5 pg in the west!!!Posted by Cynthia:
KIDD had an AWESOME GAME. The fact is…he has impacted EVERY single game he’s played in this year. Even if he doesn’t score. Whether the Kidd haters want to admit it or not…the MAVS are damn lucky to have him and we are lucky to be able to watch him perform his magic on the court.
NEXT UP
The Mavs face a tough test in the their final game before the All Star break as Thursday night they go up against the Boston Celtics at 7:30 pm. You can watch the Mavs play the defending champs on TNT.
RELATED STORIES
Kings 100, Mavericks 118 (ESPN.com, Feb. 10th, 2009)
http://espn.go.com/nba/boxscore?gameId=290210006
Donuts: Mavs 118, Kings 100 (Dallasbasketball.com, Feb. 11th, 2009)
http://www.dallasbasketball.com/fullColumn.php?id=1322
Can’t ask for much more from Jason Kidd (Mavs Blog, Feb. 10th, 2009)
http://mavsblog.dallasnews.com/archives/2009/02/cant-ask-for-much-more-from-jason-kidd.html