With Jason Kidd running the show, the Dallas Mavericks are racking up wins in bunches.

The Mavs took care of business again over the weekend, winning their fifth and sixth-straight games.

Dallas has now won 16 of their last 17 games and consensus opinion is that they wouldn’t be where they are without the consistently strong passing of J-Kidd. Travis Wimberly of Mavs Moneyball put it in perspective:

Here’s something that’s not news to anyone: Jason Kidd takes care of the basketball. His assist-to-turnover ratio has been stellar all season, as he is third in the NBA (3.72) behind Jose Calderon and Chris Paul. This week was more of the same. In total, Kidd tallied 33 assists to just 6 turnovers in 3 games this week. For those of you without calculators or abaci, that’s a 5.5 assist-to-turnover ratio. What’s more, he tallied that assist number despite averaging only ~27 minutes per game.

No. 2 added-up 21 assists over the weekend, including 14 in a 105-99 win over the Wizards on Saturday, his second highest total of the season. As they continue to roll, Jason Terry gives J-Kidd much of the credit for the Mavs’ recent offensive output, as quoted by Mavs Moneyball:

"Everything is facilitated on ball movement," Terry said. "What Jason Kidd does for us is contagious, and if we continue to play this way, very unselfishly without turning the ball over or making mistakes, then we’re a tough team to beat."

Dirk Nowitzki added that unselfishness goes hand and hand with success:

"It starts with us being an unselfish team,” he told the Dallas Morning News. "And that starts with Kidd. We feel we’re very deep and very good. We don’t have to settle for bad shots.”

Jason’s outstanding ability to facilitate for his teammates also isn’t lost on newcomer Peja Stojakovic, as Jeff Caplan of ESPN Dallas writes:

"Stojakovic has been a quick study in the Dallas Mavericks’ free-flow offense in which plays aren’t always called and players, with Jason Kidd at the helm, are free to rely on their instincts, movement and individual skills. In the past 14 games, the Mavs have scored 100 or more 13 times. Stojakovic has now recorded double-digit points in four consecutive games. In those games, Dallas has averaged 113 points and are 4-0.

"You put the ball in Jason’s hands and you don’t really have to call it

[a play] every time down offensively. If you are in a good flow, it’s just a read, look for the guy in front of you and then make a next move."

Mike Fisher of Dallas Basketball relayed an interesting note from Jason’s performance on Saturday, which included 14 assists, eight rebounds and three steals, but just one shot taken, a three that he sank:

"I noted on the air the other night that Jason Kidd’s work in Washington might’ve been an all-timer in the sense that he had so much impact in the win, and such a full boxscore … while only taking (and making) one shot. And now Elias has done some math:

Kidd contributed 14 assists and eight rebounds and according to the Elias Sports Bureau this is the only time in NBA history that a player has collected that many assists and that many rebounds in a game in which he had a combined total of no more than one shot from the floor and the foul line.

When we say "Kidd can impact a game without scoring," we’re not kidding. It’s all-time stuff.

According to Jason, option 1, before lining up a shot, is always going to be to find his teammates for the score. That’s the way he prefers it:

"I’m a quarterback," he said. "I just find my receivers. Dirk makes it easy, Jet, Peja, Shawn, Tyson, you go down the list you got a lot of guys who can put the ball in the basket, so for me, if I was the selfish guy, I would shoot the ball and make them pass it to me, but my job is to get the guys the ball in the right spot and let them do what they do best."

DEFENDING HIS THRONE
Jason’s all-around game was solid on Saturday and that included his defense of Wizards rookie point guard John Wall.

No. 2 proved he’s in no hurry to pass the torch and his D of the rookie showed it. Wall did tally 24 points, but he dished out just five assists and turned the ball over four times.

Mavs center Tyson Chandler was extremely impressed with the future hall-of-famer’s play:

"I thought Jason Kidd had some key stops," Chandler said. "For him to be 37 – I believe that’s his age – and still running up and down the court with their young fellas-man. That young dude on the other side, who may be one of the top three, two fastest guys in the league, that’s impressive."

Seeing that his teammates were on a roll, Jason’s sole goal was getting the ball into their hot hands. He did it by not only passing out assists, but also making steals and grabbing rebounds.

His three steals brought him within six of passing Gary Payton for third on the all-time steals list and his eight rebounds continued a stellar season on the glass. At 4.7 boards per game, Jason ranks second among NBA point guards in rebounding behind Oklahoma City point guard Russell Westbrook.

Jason got it all started quickly on Saturday and had a hand in six of Dallas’ eight first quarter field goals. In addition to five assists in the first, J-Kidd also scored his only bucket with 7:37 remaining in the quarter to tie the game at 12. From there. the Mavs closed the quarter on a 14-10 run and led 23-22 after one.

No. 2 ended the first on the bench and remained there for the start of the second. But as soon as he reentered the game, with six minutes left before the break, he proceeded to find teammates on six of the next nine buckets. With his help Dallas held a 59-49 lead at the half.

The Wizards went on a 12-0 run to start the third, but Dallas responded with a 10-2 run of their own to take back a 69-63 lead. The Mavs led by six after three and would not relinquish the lead.

While most of his assists came in the first half, J-Kidd wasn’t slouching in the final frames. Of his eight rebounds, six were grabbed in the second half as were all three of his steals.

For his efforts, J-Kidd earned a share of the "Game Ball" from LJ Rotter of Mavs Moneyball:

"The Game Ball Goes To…
The Jasons are going to have to share. Terry gets the game ball for balling out of control and scoring 25 points and committing no turnovers. He told me before the game that he planned on scoring 31 points, and even though he fell short, I still give him props.

Kidd gets the game ball for dishing out exactly half of the Mavericks’ total assists. He finished with 14, with 11 of those coming in the first half. Of the 22 baskets made through the second quarter, he orchestrated half of them. Clearly, this team would have little to no offense if it weren’t being run through him."

But Jason wasn’t willing to take all the credit and dished a little love to all of his teammates:

"This might be the deepest team I’ve ever played on," he said after the victory. "You’ve got 12 or 13 guys that can start."

NORTH OF THE BORDER
Following their win in D.C., the Mavs’ road trip took them to Toronto, where they didn’t arrive to their hotel until 3 a.m. Sunday morning.

In the opening period that same night, the weariness of travel showed.

After taking a 2-0 advantage in the game’s opening moments, the Mavs went the next six minutes without scoring a single point. The Raptors, meanwhile, poured in 18 straight and held a 22-3 lead midway through the first.

Having seen enough, No. 2 got the offense going and fed teammates for three of the next four field goals to cut the deficit to just 26-13. By the end of the quarter the Mavs had pulled to within six, 30-24.

After the game, Jason talked about his team’s slow start and overcoming adversity, as quoted by Mavs Moneyball:

"The best thing about tonight’s game is that the early deficit kind of woke us up. Nobody panicked, nobody had their heads down. We had some great looks that didn’t go down. The unfortunate thing is we didn’t play any defense for the first five minutes, and so they scored and we didn’t and we find ourselves in a hole. But not one guy broke and tried to do it by himself.

"Guys stayed in the system and once we got the game close, we felt it was just a matter of time that we could break it out our way. Hey, there were times in the past when we might have said, ‘That’s it. Let’s get through customs and get out of here."

Jason re-entered the game at the six-minute mark of the second and immediately found Shawn Marion for a jumper in the paint that made the score 42-39.

The Mavs finally grabbed the lead, pulling ahead 62-61 in the third and No. 2 added to it with a triple from straightaway to make it 65-61.

A minute later, after Toronto knotted the score, J-Kidd lined up at the same spot and hit another three to put Dallas in front 68-65. They would not trail again on their way to a 114-96 win.

No. 2 finished the game with six points to go along with seven assists, a steal and a rebound in just 26 minutes of play.

NEXT UP
Jason and the Mavs play their third-straight road game tonight when they visit Philadelphia to take on the 76ers.

Tip-off is set for 6 p.m. CST and the game can be seen locally on Fox Sports Southwest.

RELATED STORIES