It has been a whirlwind few days for Jason Kidd.

Wednesday was Jason’s 38th birthday and he celebrated by participating in practice with his teammates in advance of their Thursday night game with the Minnesota Timberwolves.

"There’s a cake up

[in the locker room], that’s what I saw," Mavs forward Dirk Nowitzki told ESPN Dallas after practice. "He’s amazing to me. He practices every day, he never misses games, he plays hard at both ends, he’s our motor on both ends of the floor. He’s amazing."

Tyson Chandler added that J-Kidd looked fresh:

"He looked great today," center Tyson Chandler said. "I think any time it’s your birthday you have a little extra energy. He made a couple of no-look finger rolls. It was his birthday, so he was making every shot."

But while Jason spent part of his birthday running pick and rolls and setting up the zone defense, he also got a couple of early birthday gifts this week, one on the court and one off it.

On the court, the Mavericks gave Jason the gift of victory, getting back to their winning ways with a 101-73 win over the Golden State Warriors on Sunday.

Off the court, J-Kidd got a gift through giving himself, as the Jason Kidd Foundation’s Celebrity Casino Night on Monday raised over $125 thousand dollars to benefit schools and children in need.

The event, which was attended by Jason’s Mavs teammates as well as local celebrities, was a unique way for the foundation to create an atmosphere of giving. Eddie Sefko of the Dallas Morning News explains how Jason came up with the idea:

"Kidd said he knew what needed to be done when it came to raising money for KIPP-DFW, Vogel Alcove and the Northern Light school in Oakland. He went to his teammates’ wheelhouse.

"I’ve been to a lot of charity events, so we tried to do something different,” he said. "It’s usually either golf or a sit-down dinner. We thought we’d do something that I know my teammates like to do – play cards – and at the same time raise money for the two schools.”

So Kidd rented out The Apartment in the Design District and about 200 people ponied up to play blackjack, roulette, craps and have a Texas Hold-‘Em tournament.

And, just to prove that the poker game wasn’t rigged, assistant coach Monte Mathis was the last man standing, beating team psychologist Don Kalkstein. According to legend, Mathis had never played Texas Hold-‘Em before, which now means that he’s either used up all his luck or is moving to Vegas.

The coolest part of the night was seeing the Mavericks in a social setting, with their wives or girlfriends and everybody talking about everything except basketball. Actually, the coolest part was that $125,000 was raised for the prep schools, which will get to spend the money as needed on mentoring, tutoring and technology programs."

To watch Jason talk more about the event, courtesy of Dallas Basketball, click here.

COMPLETE PERFORMANCE
The charity event built on a happy mood for the Mavs, established by a dominant defeat of the Golden State Warriors less than 24 hours prior.

J-Kidd played just 25 minutes in the 101-73 win, but still finished with eight points, six assists and two rebounds. The victory was the Dallas’ 49th on the season compared to just 21 losses.

The Mavericks moved quickly to recover from a Friday loss to the San Antonio Spurs and Jason expressed no worry about the bumps that Dallas had hit over the past week and a half:

"There’s not a big concern," said J-Kidd, who had seven points, nine assists and six rebounds in the 97-91 loss to San Antonio. "You’re going to go through this during the season and you just have to play through it."

In response, the Mavs ran up 31 points on the Warriors in the first quarter on Sunday to take an early eight-point lead.

J-Kidd provided the early spark as he nailed the Mavs’ first points of the game with a short jumper from the block at the 11-minute mark of the opening period.

Under two minutes later, No. 2 struck again, hitting a trey from the left wing that gave the Mavs a 9-6 advantage. After the Warriors built a 4-0 run to retake the early lead, Jason stopped it when he fed teammate Dirk Nowitzki. Dirk’s midrange jumper put the Mavs back in front 11-10.

From there No. 2 continued his torrid start, finding teammates on four of the next six field goals to end the quarter.

"I’ve always loved him," Warriors coach Keith Smart told the Star-Telegram. "He has an impact on the game without taking a shot. My son loves him — my oldest son — because as much as you try to get him to shoot, he doesn’t want to shoot. He wants to pass the ball. And then he makes the one shot of a game that he takes. The one big shot."

The Mavs had built their lead to 16, 51-35, by the time Jason returned to the game in the second. But at halftime they clung to a 51-43 advantage.

Jason got things going early in the third quarter when he hit his second triple of the game. The trey, from the left wing, pushed the Dallas lead back to 13 points, 56-43, with just under 11 minutes remaining in the quarter.

"His shot comes at a time when a team needs it to break a run or to take them up, and he’s done it so many times this year already," Smart said. "He’s a true pro. I watch him manage a game from a distance. You pay more attention to him on the floor because you can kind of get a good read on what he’s going to do next, because he manages the game from a distance."

Dallas would maintain that 13-point lead for the rest of the frame and the fourth quarter was when the Dallas defense really began to shine.

The Mavs allowed the Warriors to score just 10 points while they netted 25. Jason, meanwhile, was able to get some much needed rest as Dallas coasted to the win.

THE HOME STRETCH
The limited minutes for their starters were a welcome sight for Dallas with the playoffs just around the corner.

Jason is currently averaging 33.4 minutes per game this season. According to Dwain Price of the Star-Telegram, that’s just the way the future Hall-of-Famer, and his coach, like it:

"We’ve done it to a great degree and we’ll continue to look at it," coach Rick Carlisle said. "Our overall effectiveness as a team helps him get in a position where he doesn’t have to get into the mid- to high-30s in minutes.

"If we can keep him in the 31-, 32-, 33-range, that’s optimal for him."

Jason recently told ESPN Dallas he feels fresh and ready to roll into the postseason.

"I feel great physically, and mentally I feel good," he said. "We have a deep team so that helps, and I don’t carry the load so I just try to get my guys going and get them the ball and try to help them out on defense."

His longevity still leaves his teammates amazed:

"I’ve never seen a guy like him take one shot in a game and be the MVP of a game," Jason Terry told Yahoo! Sports. "He gets 17 assists and only takes one shot. It’s unbelievable how he affects a game. He guards the toughest guards. At his age people say he’s getting slower, but he’s still there [defensively]. Guys ain’t just blowing by J-Kidd."

Carlisle joked that maybe Jason has found the Fountain of Youth:

"He looks very young. I don’t know where he’s getting it from," the Dallas coach said. "We’ve got one of the most unique guys that’s ever played. He’s got a really good feel for what works for him…in terms of how much to rest him and how much to have him do in practice, a lot of that is his call and our trainer’s call. We try to communicate with Jason, but he’s always ready."

NEXT UP
After a few hard earned days off the hardwood, the Mavs will have a chance to achieve victory number 50 for the 11th-consecutive season Thursday night.

Dallas plays host to the Minnesota Timberwolves, who already sit at the bottom of the conference and will be without All-Star forward Kevin Love. Love skipped the trip due to injury.

The Mavericks are already 2-0 against the Wolves this season, including a 108-105 win in Minnesota earlier this month. They’ll be looking for the season sweep on Thursday.

Tip-off is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. CST and the game will be televised locally on Fox Sports Southwest.

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