At long last, Jason Kidd finally has his championship ring.


World Champion Jason Kidd holds up his ring during Wednesday’s ceremony (Getty Images).

Jason waited 17 long years to win an NBA championship and then had to wait seven more months to finally put a ring on it. But on Wednesday night at the American Airlines Center, Jason and his Mavs teammates finally got that hardware they’d all dreamed of.

J-Kidd and several of his teammates, most notably Dirk Nowitzki and Jason Terry, helped owner Mark Cuban pick out the design for the rings. Overall the ring contains 250 diamonds, including 31 princess-cut diamonds at the top, for the 31 years the franchise has been in existence.

The Mavs logo is at the top of the ring, wrapped by the words "World Champions." Each ring awarded to a player features their name and number on the right side along with the one-of-a-kind Mavericks ‘M’ insignia on basketball and the NBA logo. The left side features the team’s "The Time is Now" motto from their championship season along with a diamond encrusted Larry O’ Brien championship trophy.

Jason showed off his ring in some pictures that he posted on his Facebook and Twitter pages on Thursday.


Sealed with a kiss from Kidd (AP Photo).

The Mavericks were given their rings prior to Wednesday’s game with the Minnesota Timberwolves. During the ceremony, Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle introduced each player individually. As he introduced J-Kidd, Carlisle had a special message.

"A basketball genius, and, without question, still the competitive engine that drives this franchise. The greatest point guard in Mavericks history and one of the greatest point guards in NBA history: Jason Kidd."

Following the incredible introduction by his coach, Jason walked to center court and embraced Carlisle, then Mavericks owner Mark Cuban, who gave No. 2 his ring. J-Kidd finished the moment by kissing his ring and holding it up for the world to see.

Watch the entire ceremony from start finish below:

CHARITABLE JET
The ring that each member of the Mavericks was given is one of a kind.

But thanks to Jason Terry, one lucky Mavs fan could win one of their very own.

Terry purchased a second ring, which he is raffling off for his Foundation. All proceeds will go to help his youth girls’ basketball team, the Lady Jets, pay for a trip to China.

"It’s a great gesture and that just shows what kind of character Jet is," J-Kidd said. "I think that’s awesome for whoever that lucky fan is. . .what do we have to do to win it?"

Simple. Visit JasonTerryFoundation.com and purchase a ticket for $10.

MAVS FALL TO WOLVES
After all the hoopla, there was still a game to be played on Wednesday night and unfortunately for the Mavs, it didn’t go their way.

No. 2 came up just short of a triple-double on an inspiring night, contributing eight points on 3-for-6 shooting with eight rebounds, seven assists and a steal in his 33 minutes. But the Mavericks let off the gas at the wrong time and fell 105-90.

The Mavericks seemed poised to run away with the win early. Perhaps motivated by their championship rings, Dallas shot a blistering 61.5 percent (24-for-39) from the floor in the first half. They buried nine of their first 11 shots in the opening minutes of the second quarter and led by 10 when J-Kidd knocked down a three-pointer with 1:07 to play in the first half.

But Minnesota went on an 8-0 run in the final minute of the first half to pull within two, 54-52. The Minnesota surge late in the half clearly displeased head coach Rick Carlisle who told reporters after the game that it was the turning point of the game.

"The game turned at the end of the first half. We lost some concentration," Carlisle said. "After that period at the end of the second quarter, we really didn’t compete at any kind of level at all."

The Mavs were partially done in by the playmaking of Timberwolves guard Ricky Rubio, who scored 17 points, had 12 assists and added seven rebounds and four steals. The performance of Rubio, just a rookie, left an impression on J-Kidd.

"He’s steady. He controlled the game, not scoring but looking for his teammates," Jason told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. "He’s very creative. He knows who to find through their schemes and his future’s very bright."

Despite Rubio’s performance against him, Rob Mahoney of The Two Man Game wrote that he was pleased with Jason’s defense of the speedy rookie on Wednesday.

"Although he couldn’t totally prevent Rubio from finding his teammates, Kidd smothered the rookie on shot attempt after shot attempt, turning potential layups into difficult runners and difficult runners into flailing misses. The Mavs didn’t do enough as a team to capitalize on Kidd’s strong individual defensive play, but it’s nice nonetheless to see him really working to be an effective defender again."

The loss to Minnesota came on the one-month anniversary of the unfurling of Dallas’ championship banner at the American Airlines Center, and another loss, 105-94 to Miami. The reigning NBA champions are now 0-2 in contests following celebratory ceremonies. The Mavs’ poor execution on such nights prompted Jason to quip about how glad he is the Mavs are done celebrating.

"I think we’re all happy that we don’t have anymore ceremonies for our championship," he said. "We can just concentrate on basketball."

NEXT UP
The Mavericks will take a day off at home to regroup before Friday’s contest when they host the Utah Jazz. Dallas (11-8) continues to deal with injuries and fatigue, but J-Kidd says they are united as a group, win or lose.

"The team is always going to be looked upon as a team," he said. "We’re not individuals in the sense of you’ve got to win and and lose as a team. We looked at it like that last year; we didn’t care who put the ball in the basket. Right now it’s just a matter of getting your body right and being ready once the real season starts."

The Mavs will be looking for some home cooking on Friday. They are now 7-3 at home and can begin a new win streak at the AAC against a Jazz team that has lost three of their five road games thus far. Dallas’ last game against Utah, a 94-91 victory last Thursday, started the Mavs on a three-game winning streak.

Tipoff of Friday’s rematch is scheduled for 7:30 CT on Fox Sports Southwest.

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