Jason Kidd and the Dallas Mavericks took Portland’s best punch over the weekend. Consider them ready to respond tonight.


Jason leads the Mavericks back to Dallas for Game 5 of the West Quarterfinals tonight (Getty Images).

Jason said at Monday’s shootaround that the 84-82 loss to the Trail Blazers in Game 4 of the Western Conference Quarterfinals on Saturday was difficult to swallow, but it’s time to move on:

"One of the toughest losses I’ve ever been involved in," he said. "It’s basketball. It can take you on a high and it can take you on a low, so we just have to bounce back from this."

The Mavs get their chance tonight when the series returns to Dallas for Game 5 at the American Airlines Center. To be prepared tonight, Jason will draw from past experience. As a member of the 2001-2002 New Jersey Nets, J-Kidd watched a similar situation unfold in the Eastern Conference Finals, he told Earl K. Sneed of Mavs Fastbreak:

"From my experiences, I’ve lost games being up 25 in the fourth quarter, so you’ve gotta come back and play and execute the game plan for the next game. And that next game you’ve gotta put it behind you.

"

[The 2001-02 Nets team] lost a 20-point lead in the fourth quarter, kind of like what we did up in Portland," he added when reminiscing on his former team’s past experience. "We actually went down in the series 2-1, and it was kind of ironic that Game 4 [of that series] was the same thing. We were up 20 again in the fourth and almost gave the lead away.

So, we learned from our experience, you’ve gotta play the game for 48 minutes. It wasn’t nice or fun to sit in Boston after giving up that lead, but it was an experience that the team had to go through. We fought through it and it was a great learning experience, because it brought us together on the road and we ended up going to the Finals."

That series taught J-Kidd a valuable lesson and it’s one he’s hoping to impart on his Mavericks teammates, as they get ready for Game 4 tonight.

"Things like that happen in this game," he said. "So you’ve just got to learn from it. And if we’re in that situation again we’ve got to understand what’s at stake.

"We can still win the series, and that’s where our focus has to be."

Tip-off for tonight’s Game 5 at the American Airlines Center is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. CT. The game will be televised locally on KTXA and nationally on NBA TV.

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