After a bumpy start to the week in Los Angeles, Salt Lake City was decidedly more friendly to Jason Kidd and the Dallas Mavericks on Thursday night.

The Mavs bounced back from two straight losses in LA with a victory in Utah and No. 2 was the catalyst. J-Kidd dished out a season-high 11 assists, including the last two of the game, to lead Dallas to a 94-91 win over the Jazz.

The win snapped a two-game losing streak and was the first road win of the season for the Mavs against a Western Conference opponent.

"A character win," Jason said. "I thought it was. After losing two in a row at the buzzer, not getting in until 3 o’clock in the morning, we had all the excuses. But guys showed up and we got a great win."

Jason’s 11 dishes nearly quadrupled the next highest Maverick’s total for the night and the last of those dimes came at the most crucial moments late in the fourth quarter. At the time, the Mavs and Jazz were locked in an 87-87 tie, following a Utah run. But No. 2 helped the Mavs stem the tide and seize back the momentum.

First he fed Jason Terry for a trey that gave the Mavericks a 90-87 lead with 2:26 to play. Then, just over a minute later, J-Kidd served up a beautiful feed to forward Shawn Marion who banked the ball off the glass for an easy layup to make it a five-point game.

"I had some great positioning and I was able to get what I wanted to," Marion said of the feed from J-Kidd.

Dallas held off the Jazz from there, scoring seven of the next eight points to break the 87-87 tie. A C.J. Miles trey with 1.7 seconds left was too little too late for Utah, as they fell by three. Among the top scorers for the Mavericks was one of Jason’s backups, Rodrigue Beaubois. Roddy B, as he’s referred to by the Mavs, came off the bench to score 17 points in just 18 minutes.

"Roddy is doing great," Jason told the Star-Telegram. "He’s starting to show the hard work — and also he’s listening — because we all want him to be successful… he’s starting to understand that he can do more than just score. So that’s just growth and being in this league, and also being comfortable and having confidence."

The game started quickly for Jason and the Mavs, as No. 2 dished out five of his 11 assists and scored his only bucket in the first when Dallas jumped out to a 25-22 lead. Jason added a couple more dimes at the end of the half and by the break the Mavs led 59-50.

J-Kidd opened the third the same way he had closed the second, with two more quick dimes, bringing his game total to nine with just a minute gone by in the second half. Dallas led 63-53 at that point and appeared poised to run away with the game. They nearly relinquished the lead late in the fourth, but were able to regroup defensively and stave off the streaking Jazz, effectively silencing the NBA’s hottest team.

While the continuous improvement the Mavs are making on the road pleases head coach Rick Carlisle, he is hesitant to become content. Instead, he hopes to see more consistent progress from his team.

"We’re making steady progress," Carlisle said when asked to evaluate his team’s development after the game. "But it is work. We got to continue with it. It doesn’t happen over night. It simply doesn’t."

MORE COURT TIME FOR KIDD
Since returning from a four-game absence due to a lower back injury, Jason has seen his minutes rise quite a bit for the Mavs.

In those four games, Jason is averaging 33 minutes played per contest and the Mavericks are now 2-2. J-Kidd said it’s a delicate balance between playing enough minutes to find a rhythm and not playing so many minutes that you allow fatigue to set in.

"You’re trying to get in shape, into basketball shape and to this point there’s been so much bad basketball," he said. "But at the same time you probably need minutes on the floor to get going, to get a rhythm."

Asked how he would handle it were he the coach, Jason told ESPN Dallas’ Jeff Caplan that he was unsure that there is a correct way. Each team will have to go about it in a different way

"I don’t think there’s going to be a right

[answer]," J-Kidd said. "[The Lakers starters] are playing a lot of minutes. Now, will they be able to be ready come playoff time? Then, you’re not playing enough minutes to get in a rhythm, so it’s going to affect your shooting and your play. So, it’s a double-edged sword."

COACHING USA?
Jason is only contemplating possible coaching decisions now, but this summer he could be making some for Team USA.

Last week, J-Kidd expressed his interest in helping to coach the U.S. squad in this year’s summer Olympic games in London. Team USA head coach Mike Krzyzewski, who coached Jason and Team USA to the gold medal in 2008, recently praised Jason’s leadership as an asset to the USA Basketball program.

"One of the reasons we have a program right now is because of his leadership, his maturity. He’s the best," Krzyzewski said. "I love Jason, and appreciate his commitment to USA Basketball over the years. But especially as we started to form the program [that we have] right now, he was an essential ingredient for the success we’ve had so far."

Eight of the 11 players that were on that 2008 team with Jason are among the 20 players up for consideration for the 2012 games. With Jason’s guidance, that 2008 group, tabbed as the Redeem Team, brought gold back to the U.S. following a disappointing bronze finish in 2004. They’ll be looking to go back-to-back this summer in London and Coach J-Kidd might join them for the ride.

NEXT UP
The Mavericks have it light this weekend with just one game on the slate, a Saturday meeting with the Hornets in New Orleans to finish off a four-game road trip. Tipoff is scheduled for 7 PM CST on Fox Sports Southwest.

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