It’s difficult to pinpoint just when the Dallas Mavericks transformed into a championship team this season.

From the beginning, the Mavs had faith in themselves and expected great things out of this year. As Jason Kidd told HOOPSWORLD in his exit interview, Dallas seemed primed to put it all together from the very start of the season.

"It’s a journey that we set out on every October, to win a championship, and to finally get through it is rewarding, but it won’t set in until for another couple weeks," he said. "It’s still like, ‘Who do we play next? Are we watching film tomorrow?’"


The Mavericks’ run to the Finals began with a dream in October and ended with fulfillment in June (Getty Images).

It took hours of film and practice for the Mavericks to reach the peak this year. They got off to a hot start to the regular season, especially J-Kidd, who kicked off the season with 18 assists in an opening night victory over the Charlotte Bobcats.

Then, in just the third game of the year, Jason hit a 65-foot halftime buzzer beater against the Clippers to propel the Mavs to their second victory.

"I got the rebound, maybe with 2 seconds left, and I was going to eat it," he said. "But

[Jason Terry} told me to shoot it. I’m not going for the 3-point record, percentage-wise, so I let it go and it was on line. A lot of times when they’re on line, they don’t go in. So I got lucky."

By the end of November, the Mavs were rolling. They ended 2010’s penultimate month in the midst of a six-game winning streak with a 13-4 record. The streak went on into December, extending to 12 before being snapped in a 103-99 loss to the Milwaukee Bucks. But even that loss may have foreshadowed what was to come, as Jeff Caplan of ESPN Dallas wrote:

"Monday was the fifth time in team history that the Bucks have ended a winning streak of at least 12 games. The most famous instance was when Milwaukee ended the Los Angeles Lakers’ NBA-record 33-game winning streak on Jan. 9, 1972. The Bucks also ended 12-plus game streaks by the Celtics (1973 -12), 76ers (1983 – 14) and Spurs (2007 – 13).

What do all four teams have in common?

They all went on to win the NBA title that same season."

The Mavs went on to win their next five games, but on December 27th, they had a scare that threatened to rock their dream season. Early in the second quarter of a game with the Oklahoma City Thunder, All-Star forward Dirk Nowitzki went down with an ankle injury. 

Then, just three games after Dirk got hurt, Caron Butler went down with a knee injury. Dirk would miss nine games, seven of which Dallas lost; Butler was done for the season. The Mavs were on the ropes, but they endured. J-Kidd said it was that mid-season adversity that united the team.

"We got off to a great start at the beginning of the season. Dirk was playing an MVP-type season, and then we lose Caron and Dirk. And so everybody wrote us off but ourselves," Jason said. "I think going through that period where we lost six in a row and looked at each other and said we got to find a way, because those two aren’t coming back anytime soon. Guys stepped up, and we turned it around.

"I think just going through the journey of those injuries made us a better team, because we had to do a lineup change…and we didn’t skip a beat. We just kept playing. That just shows the character of this team. No matter how old you are, we understood how to play the game, by passing the ball and making sure that we didn’t take shots where three or four guys are on you. We just made the extra pass. We didn’t care who put the ball in the basket."

Once Nowitzki returned and settled back into the lineup, the Mavs found their rhythm and got into another long groove. Beginning with a January 19th victory over the Lakers, Dallas won 19 of 21 games, pushing their record to 45-16. That run included some huge plays from J-Kidd, the biggest of which may have been his game-breaking three against the Celtics on February 4th. Jason splashed down from deep with 15.3 seconds left, sending the Mavs to a momentum building win in Boston.

"I’m glad I kicked it out [to Jason]," Nowitzki said at the time. "He made a heck of a shot. A 3-pointer out of a pump fake is probably one of the toughest shots in basketball, but he made it look easy. He’s been making tough shots his whole career, and that was definitely a big shot."


Jason’s late trey against the Celtics in February gave the Mavs one of their biggest wins of the season (Getty Images).

Dallas finished the regular season 57-25, the 11th consecutive 50-win season for the franchise. That record earned the Mavs the No. 3 seed in the Western Conference.

BLAZING A TRAIL
In the first round, Dallas faced the beginning of a tough road to the Finals when they took on the Portland Trail Blazers.

From the outset of the series, J-Kidd was an assassin from beyond the arc.

In the opening game, No. 2 knocked down 6-of-10 treys on his way to 24 points and the Mavs took Game 1, 89-81.

"We had some guys that didn’t play their best games, but Jason Kidd played the game of the year to this point," coach Rick Carlisle said after the win. "Every shot he made, every play he made was absolutely essential for us. His leadership is something you can’t quantify."

J-Kidd followed that up with a 7-of-11 shooting performance in Game 2 as the Mavs streaked out to another win and a 2-0 lead in the series.

Portland won the next two games to even the series, including a huge comeback in Game 4 that had many counting the Mavericks out as the "same old" team.

But Jason would not let his teammates quit on themselves or their dreams.

"We have to stay together and get home and come out Monday with the same focus and intensity as we did today," he said after Game 4. "Then we just have to finish."

Dallas finished strong on their home floor in Game 5, with an 11-point win, then went back up to Portland and closed the series in six with a stellar comeback of their own. The table-turning Game 6 victory was buoyed by another late game three from No. 2. He finished the series with 15 made threes.

"The Jason Kidd 3 really to me was the big shot of the game," Dirk Nowitzki said after the win. "This was kind of our Game 7. We didn’t want to play again Saturday. Get Kidd a couple of days of rest before we go in a tough environment in L.A. We definitely talked about it before the game, that this was our Game 7, and that’s the way both teams played."

Their first round victory set up a second round showdown with the defending NBA champion Los Angeles Lakers.
 
SWEEPING THE CHAMPS
As much as Jason’s three-point shooting pushed the Mavericks to a first round victory, his defense helped them buzz through the Lakers in Round 2.

Late in games, J-Kidd took on the task of guarding fellow future hall-of-famer Kobe Bryant and came up with huge stops throughout the series.

"All I know is I said, ‘I’ll guard him’ and I wanted to make it tough," he said. "I’m a competitor. And maybe being old, too, maybe I’m hard-headed and naïve enough to think I can slow him down."


J-Kidd’s defense on Kobe Bryant propelled Dallas to a four-game sweep of the defending champs (Getty Images).

In Game 1, Jason forced Bryant into consecutive turnovers in the final two minutes, allowing the Mavericks to turn a slim deficit into a slim lead. Then, on the final possession of the game, J-Kidd contested a Bryant shot which would have tied the game and watched as it fell short, sending the Mavs to a victory in Los Angeles.

Defense was the name of the game again in Game 2 as Dallas held the Lakers to just 81 points on their way to a second consecutive win.

"We kept our composure, our patience and playing defense is going to win games at this time of the year," Jason said. "Right now, that’s been our focal point. There for a stretch it was 68-62 [Mavs] and we couldn’t make a shot. But, defensively, we held serve in the sense of they couldn’t score. Once we got off 68, we started to score and continued to play defense."

The Mavs rallied from behind for the second time in the series in Game 3, winning at home to take a commanding 3-0 lead. With an overwhelming advantage, they delivered the knockout blow in Game 4 when they jumped out to a huge lead to put away LA for a series sweep. There would be a new champion in 2011 and the Mavs were as confident as anyone that it would be they who took home the Larry O’Brien trophy.

"I’ve been on the other end of a lot of losses against the Lakers and Phil [Jackson]," J-Kidd said. "So, it’s good to get a win. It doesn’t matter if you get to sweep the series or not, just to win the series and move on. This is a two-time defending champions that we beat and we have to use that experience and we can’t have a let down."

The sweep of LA booked the Mavs a week of rest before playing the Oklahoma City Thunder in the Western Conference Finals.

EXPERIENCE TRIUMPHS
The Conference Finals were billed as a classic battle of youth vs. experience and in this particular case, experience prevailed.

In Game 1 of the West Finals, the Mavs quickly put to bed any talk of rust from their week off, reeling off 121 points in the 121-112 win. J-Kidd played the part of assist man that he’s identified with throughout his career, dishing 11 dimes to give Dallas the edge. Dirk Nowitzki took full advantage of Jason’s assists, pouring in 48 points in the victory.

"The big thing is we’re playing as a team," Jason said after the opener. "Everybody is touching the ball. Defensively, everybody is helping out."

The Thunder came back to take Game 2 in Dallas, sending the series to Oklahoma City all even at one. But the Mavericks took the series lead right back in OKC, behind another starring performance from No. 2. Jason finished the pivotal Game 3 win with 13 points, eight assists, six rebounds and four steals.

"On our team he’s a superstar. That’s how important he is to us," Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle said of J-Kidd after Game 3. "He has the ability to process situations at a different and at a higher level than a lot of us.

"It’s part of his genius as a player and as a leader."

The Mavericks drew on that genius again in Game 4 when they fell behind by 15 points late in the fourth quarter. Rather than give in, they listened to their leader and closed the game on a 17-2 run to get it overtime.

"In the playoffs, you can’t just throw in the towel," J-Kidd said, describing the mentality of his entire team. "We could have easily said, ‘Hey, we did our job, we won Game 3 and now we’re gonna go home with the split.’ But nobody ever hung their head.

Nobody was complaining. We kept playing."

In that overtime period, No. 2 hit another clutch trey, a pump fake triple, which broke a 105-all tie. He added a pair of free throws down the stretch to secure the victory.

"I knew the ball was gonna end up to me," he said. "My job is to be able to knock down that shot…. People were talking about it reminded them of the Boston game in Boston, so I just got lucky that the ball went in."

The Mavs took the series back to Dallas and closed it out in five, with Jason making the little plays to come up big in the finale.

"We’ve got Jason Kidd, who has obviously seen it all in this league, who is one of the great leaders," Dirk Nowitzki said in explaining why the Mavs thrive in crunch time. "He always seems to make the right play down the stretch."

With their Western Conference title in hand, the Mavs headed off to the NBA Finals to take on the vaunted Miami Heat. It would be Jason’s first trip to the Finals in eight years and the third of his career. The third time would prove to be a charm.

FINALLY A CHAMP
The Mavericks dropped Game 1 of the Finals in Miami and fell behind big again in Game 2. But where others failed this postseason, the Mavs always found an extra gear. The Finals were no different.

Staring a 15-point fourth quarter deficit in the face yet again, Dallas didn’t blink. Coach Rick Carlisle put his faith in J-Kidd down the stretch and the result was a 22-5 game-ending run to the win and a split in Miami as the series shifted back to Dallas.

When the Mavs started limiting shots and J-Kidd commanded the offense from the floor, they started to roll.

"You can’t give an explosive offensive team so many shots at the basket," Dirk Nowitzki said. "You’ve got to hold them to one shot, rebound the ball and then hopefully speed the game up some, get the ball in J-Kidd’s hands and play more of our game."


Once the Mavericks started hitting shots from the perimeter, it was lights out for the Heat (Getty Images).
Jason felt that Game 2 win was the turning point in the series:

"When we looked at each other and we found a way to win, being down 15," No. 2 said. "We were in that same boat in the Oklahoma series. We were in the same boat in the Portland series, where — actually, we were in that same situation in every series we were in. Portland we give up the 23-point lead and lose, and we looked at each other and said that can’t happen again. And so L.A. Game 1 we’re down 16 or 15 and we find a way to win that. So I think we were a little bit comfortable playing from behind. As much as we wanted to get the lead, it just didn’t happen."

Miami grabbed Game 3 to take the series lead back, but it would be the last time the Heat would taste victory. In Game 4, Jason stepped up on defense, limiting LeBron James to a mere eight points in a Dallas win.

Game 5 marked the last game of the season at the American Airlines Center and No. 2 and the Mavs sent the building out with a bang. Jason’s dagger three with a minute and-a-half remaining gave Dallas a five-point cushion that they wouldn’t relinquish on their way to finally taking control of the series, three games to two.

"It’s all about our leader, Jason Kidd," Jason Terry said that night. "The way he plays the game, the way he has always played the game rubs off."

The Mavs needed just one chance to close the series, bringing their record in closeout games to a perfect 4-0 this postseason with a 105-95 win in Game 6. The win gave Jason his first title after a 17-year wait and Dallas its first championship in the franchise’s 31-year history.

"This is what I put the uniform on for is to try to win a championship," Jason told ESPN Radio New York’s Mike Lupica. "You start in October and the journey will take you up-and-down and sometimes it’ll make yourself question what I am still doing playing? Cause I don’t think it’s going to happen, but that’s the time you have to dig deeper and work harder and that’s what I did this season."


The long wait for a title, experienced by both Jason and the Mavs franchise, is over (Getty Images).

Coach Rick Carlisle offered Jason the highest praise for leading the Mavs to the title.

"Jason Kidd’s DNA is all over this thing," said head coach Rick Carlisle. "You don’t see some of the gaudy statistics in terms of points scored or things like that, but the way he has facilitated our team on the court with his leadership ability, his knowledge of our team, the example he sets by playing with a certain level of intensity…on the other hand he’s extremely cool under pressure.

"He is one of the all-time greats. There is absolutely no question about it. For Jason Kidd, this moment completely validates his career as being one of those super-super-super-superstars."

RELATED STORIES