Jason’s 13th straight appearance in the post-season, which ties the longest active streak, comes against a familiar Mavs foe: the San Antonio Spurs.
The series is sure to be a Texas-sized showdown with the history between these two teams. Dallas has faced the Spurs three times in the playoffs before, with the most recent coming in 2006 when the Mavs beat the Spurs in the Western Conference semifinals, 4-3.
During the regular season, the two teams split the season series with each team stealing a victory on the road. Jason had some of his best games against the Spurs, averaging 13 points, 8.75 assists, and 6.5 boards in four games — all better than his season averages.
|
|
Only in one game did Jason struggle against the Spurs — an away game on February 24th that gave the Spurs their largest margin of victory over the Mavs this year. With Jason only managing 2 points, 4 assists, 2 steals, and 6 boards, the Spurs were able to easily handle the Mavs in a 93-76 victory.
In the other three games against San Antonio, however, Jason averaged 16.6 points, 10.3 assists, and 6.6 boards. In those contests, the Mavs were much more competitive against the Spurs, winning two of the three. The only one the Mavs lost was an overtime game on December 9th, when Jason ran wild for 24 points, 8 boards, 12 assists, 2 steals, and 1 block.
So for the Mavs to be competitive against the Spurs in their playoff series, Jason will have to emulate his past success against them in order for the Mavs to be efficient offensively.
GUARDING JASON
The Spurs have always double-teamed Nowitzki, but on March 4th, San Antonio tried to double-team Jason to force the ball out of his hands.
The result: Jason tore the Spurs apart for 17 points and 9 assists. Dallasbasketball.com discussed the problem the Spurs will have deciding how they will guard J.Kidd in the series:
“But there is a less orthodox double-team Pop used on March 4 that did not go well at all for the Spurs.”
“They tried to double-team-trap Jason Kidd on the wings.”
“We understand the logic; with Kidd calling the plays, it’s nice for the Spurs to force the ball from his hands. The double-team clogs up Kidd’s wish to orchestrate pick-and-rolls (which he did with ease against SA in the first half of that game) and as the shot clock ticks down, it almost forces quarterbacking responsibilities into the hands of a less-capable Mav.”
“But. …It also assumes that Kidd won’t be able to find shooters in the corners. (A bad assumption.) It also assumes that those shooters will misfire. (Dallas’ lowly ranking as a 3-point-launching team makes that assumption less dubious, but still. … is Pop’s bet really that Jason Terry is going to lose the game from the corner?)”
“They will double-team Dirk. They can’t really double-team Josh or Jet. They might double-team Kidd, or – and here’s where it gets tricky – they might leave Kidd alone on the perimeter, gunk up his passing lanes, and force him to launch from the arc.”
“SA took its chances on that approach often enough on March 4 that in addition to all the other things Kidd did (seven rebounds and nine assists) he also shot 6-of-10 from the floor and 3-of-5 from the arc and he scored 17 points.”
“It’s all about (Kidd) running the show,” says Dirk with praise of the point guard.”
“So do they cover Kidd? Double-team him? Or not cover him at all? Tricky.”
MAVS COPY JASON’S MENTAL APPROACH
The Mavs have been recreated in Jason’s image as they have become mentally tougher and much more of a fighting team.
That gives them a great chance to pull off the upset against the Spurs. The Mavs Blog talked about Jason’s effect on the Mavs best:
“One of the major reasons I liked the Kidd/Devin Harris deal at the time was because of the belief that the Mavs needed a major infusion of mental toughness after a parade-canceling Finals collapse and humiliating first-round wipeout as a 1 seed. That seemed pretty silly at the end of last season, after watching the Mavs lose a bunch of close games and fold in the first round against the Hornets.”
“It appears that Kidd simply needed more time and more responsibility to have his will and his competitiveness rub off on the rest of the Mavs.”
“The rally to beat the Rockets represented the 18th time the Mavs have won a game after trailing by double figures this season. The Mavs are 18-5 in games decided by five or fewer points. Those stats are testaments to Kidd’s leadership, which he’s taken to another level since the mid-season decision to allow him to handle most of the play-calling.”
“Over the last couple of months, he’s played as well as he has since he’s been here,” Dirk said. “He’s leading the troops on both ends of the floor and making big shots for us. It just seems like he’s a lot more comfortable than he was when we he first got here.”
“It’s all about him running the show.”
Mavs fans agree that Jason has changed the complexion of the team, as comments found on the Mavs blog show.
Posted by JeffAtValleyRanch:
This is Jason Kidd’s 13th straight season of making the playoffs and that spans over three different teams (Suns, Nets, Mavs). That’s not a fluke. The guy knows how to win.Posted by Jeff R:
Kidd is the heart of the team.
NEXT UP
The Mavs have their first game against the Spurs Saturday at 7 pm CST on ESPN.
RELATED STORIES
Playoffs: Mavs vs. Spurs (ESPN.com, Apr. 17th, 2009)
http://www.dallasbasketball.com/fullColumn.php?id=1526
Jason Kidd has made the Mavs a mentally tough team (Mavs Blog, Apr. 16th, 2009)
http://mavsblog.dallasnews.com/archives/2009/04/jason-kidd-has-made-the-mavs-a-mentally.html
Spurs vs. Mavericks Series Breakdown (Spurs.com, Apr. 17th, 2009)
http://www.nba.com/spurs/news/sas_dal_rd1_09.html
