With his team locked in a tight game heading into the second half on Wednesday night, Jason Kidd went to work doing what he does best.

No. 2 racked up seven assists and hit a three-pointer during 12 third quarter minutes in leading the Mavs to a 75-70 lead. The Mavericks held on tight to that edge and pulled out their fifth consecutive win.

J-Kidd finished with a game-high 10 assists, five points, a steal and a block in Dallas’ 106-100 victory over the Los Angeles Clippers. The win was the Mavs’ ninth straight and 15th in their last 16 against the Clippers.

Jason saw the third quarter outburst as par for the course. After all, Dallas has brought stellar play out of the locker room in the third on a regular basis throughout the season.

"Our third quarters have been pretty good to us of late, and again our defense has been stepping up," hesaid of the play in the third. "We got off to a slow start, but we just don’t panic. We just keep coming."

With the performance No. 2 doled out, it was no surprise that the Mavs came away with the victory. When J-Kidd dishes at least 10 assists, his Mavs are nearly unbeatable. Eddie Sefko of The Dallas Morning News explains:

"The plain fact is that Kidd is every bit as valuable when he gets double-figure assists as he is when he gets double-figure points.

The Mavericks are

[20]-5 when Kidd has double-figure assists. They are 23-6 when he scores in double figures.

Not much difference there.

Basically, what it boils down to is that the Mavericks are good when Kidd is good.

Geez, does that surprise anybody?"

No. 2 snapped an early 11-2 run by the Clippers in the first quarter with an elbow jumper that made it 13-6 with seven minutes remaining. By the end of the quarter, despite trailing by as many as 13 points, the Mavs had managed to cut their deficit to just five.

In the second, the Mavs’ defense got in gear and allowed the Clippers to score just 18 points. Jason, meanwhile, fed Roddy Beaubois twice in the period, the last with just five seconds remaining in the half, to give Dallas its first lead of the night.

JASON STOPS THE BLEEDING
After his outstanding third period, which gave the Mavs a lead, Jason was eager to rest up for the real test today against the Western Conference’s second place team, the Los Angeles Lakers.

"Once I saw the game was under control, I wanted to get out of there," he told ESPN Dallas. "It would have been nice to have the whole fourth off. We got to close the door in that situation so Dirk and other guys don’t have to get back into the game. We had a game under control. They made a run at us."

The Mavs led by just five points when Jason re-entered the game at the three-minute mark. But with J-Kidd back in the game, Dallas reeled off a 7-3 run and cruised to victory from there.

"We didn’t panic," he said. "We got the W."

Coach Carlisle didn’t regret going back to J-Kidd because the Mavs needed their veteran leader to stabilize them:

"I thought we could get it done, but had to go back with him," Carlisle said. "But it was only for a couple of minutes. It’s not that big of a deal now, but whenever possible, we’d like to be able to finish and let him sit over there and rest."

Bryan Gutierrez of Mavs Moneyball thought Jason looked pretty fresh on Wednesday:

"Jason Kidd looked rather spry and happy to be back in California. Kidd was getting into the lane and only had to play 29 minutes of action. He finished the game with five points and 10 assists. The Mavericks moved to 21-5 when Kidd records at least 10 assists in a game."

SMELLING LIKE A ROSE
Jason talks often about the respect he has for other point guards in the league.

That extends not only to his fellow veterans like Steve Nash, Deron Williams and Chris Paul, but also some of the league’s youngest points like Derrick Rose.

"It’s hard because you’ve got so many guys," Kidd said. "When you look at Nash … Nash is a special player, and now you’re going to start putting Rose in that category. As a point guard, you have so many things to do … get the ball to so many different guys, and then look to score. And he has shown that he can do it at a high level."

J-Kidd believes that Rose’s meteoric rise could end up making him the league’s MVP this year, he told the Chicago Tribune:

"Derrick is playing extremely well. He’s definitely probably the MVP of this league," Kidd said. "This guy had 30 (points) and 17 (assists against Milwaukee last Saturday night). He can affect this game by scoring and also by his teammates. He is just going to get better, which is going to be a lot of fun to watch. I think he has all of the tools to be one of the best that played the game.

"I can watch him for a long time. He’s a special player. He’s young and he has picked up the game extremely fast. I think so far, in my book, he would be the MVP."

THE WEST’S LAST BEST HOPE
But Jason and the Mavs have their own race to worry about as they move toward the playoffs.

With their win in LA on Wednesday, Dallas now owns the NBA’s top road record, winning an outstanding 27 of 37 games in unfriendly confines.

NBA analyst Charles Barkley said in an interview with KESN-FM that Dallas is the team with the best chance to knock off the defending champion Lakers, whom the Mavs play tonight in LA.

"I think the Mavs are the second best team in the West. I think they’re the only team that’s got a legitimate shot of beating the Lakers. I think what is going to happen is that the Spurs are going to drop to the second spot and lose to the Mavericks in the second round of the playoffs…. It’s going to be crazy this year."

NEXT UP
Jason and the Mavs can get a leg up in the race for the two-seed out West when they face the Lakers tonight.

"They’re playing well and they always tend to play well this time of the year," No. 2 told Mavs Moneyball. "They understand how to defend their championship and they also know what it takes to win. This will be a good test for us to see where we are."

A win would push the Mavericks a half game up on the Lakers in the standings. But it won’t be easy by any means, as Dallas tries to match LA’s size tonight:

"You look at Kobe (Bryant) and Artest, big guys, athletic and they know how to play,” J-Kidd said. "They’re a big, long team, so we’re going to have our hands full.”

Tip-off is scheduled for 9:30 p.m. CST, and the game will be televised nationally on TNT.

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