After his night off on Wednesday, Jason Kidd is rested up and ready to suit up tonight for the Dallas Mavericks against the Sacramento Kings.

No. 2 told ESPN he’s happy that his younger teammates logged some minutes in his place and led the Mavericks to their ninth straight W.

"I think it was a great thing for me and it was very nice of coach

[Rick Carlisle] and the staff to give me the day off yesterday, and for my teammates, providing J.J. [Barea] to get some time under their belt."

While acknowledging that it’s an unfortunate break for his team, Jason sees more opportunities for the younger players to get on the hardwood in teammate Jason Terry’s absence.

Terry broke his orbital bone on the elbow of Timberwolves rookie Jonny Flynn in Wednesday night’s game against Minnesota and will miss up to two weeks. Although J-Kidd doesn’t like to see his teammates injured, he thinks this is a chance for Terry to get some rest and for other Mavericks to step up. As he told ESPN:

"The big thing is we’ve played with injuries, guys missing a couple games, so this isn’t anything new to us," Kidd said. "It’s something we look forward to, giving some guys some minutes. We look at it that Jet gets a little rest because he’s been logging a lot of minutes, too. It’s a two-way street in a sense, it gives other guys opportunity and also gives Jet time to catch his breath and be ready to go once the playoffs start."

He went on to say he doesn’t need to make up for Terry’s points because his teammates will be there to help him.

"I’m just going to try to continue to do what I’ve been doing since the break, be aggressive, when shots present themselves take it, but nothing out of the ordinary," Kidd said. "I’m not going to try to make up Jet’s points per game. There might be a couple more shots, but the big thing is we’ve got a lot of guys who can step in. We’re not looking for someone to fill Jet’s shoes. We’re just looking for somebody to come in and be aggressive and play hard, and everything else will take care of itself."

NEXT UP
The Mavericks are pushing for their first 10-game win streak since 2007 tonight against the Sacramento Kings.

No. 2 will go up against the young and swift Tyreke Evans in the first of back-to-back games this weekend. The Mavs have taken the crown from the Kings in their past 12 games at American Airlines Center. Tip-off is at 7:30 p.m. CST on Fox Sports Network.

Following Friday’s game the Mavs will head to the Windy City to face the Chicago Bulls Saturday night at 7 p.m. CST on Fox Sports Network.

RELATED STORIES
Jason Terry’s broken orbital bone threatens to bust Dallas Mavericks’ rhythm (ESPN.com, March 5, 2010)
http://sports.espn.go.com/dallas/nba/columns/story?columnist=caplan_jeff&id=4967185
Other than Jet’s face, Kidd enjoyed rest (ESPN.com, March 5, 2010)
http://espn.go.com/blog/dallas/mavericks/post/_/id/4666798/other-than-terrys-face-kidd-enjoyed-rest