Entering the third quarter Monday night, Jason and the Mavs had their game against the Cleveland Cavaliers within their grasp. Twelve minutes later, it was gone.
Jason finished with nine points, six assists and two rebounds, and Dallas fell, 100-81, to LeBron James and Co.
It was the Mavs’ poor protection of the ball, and struggle on defense that allowed the Cavaliers to steal the game. Jason as quoted to HoopsWorld.com:
“We put up enough points but we didn’t stop anybody. I think we’ve got to look back and take this as a lesson learned. We played one of the best teams in the league and we just have to stop people and we have to get stops and we have to take better care of the ball. We shot a lot of jump shots in the first quarter and we have to be aggressive and it’s a lesson learned.”
This will hopefully be a lesson learned for the Mavs’ as coach Rick Carlisle talks more of figuring out how to get the most out of No. 2. Carlisle talking to HoopsWorld.com:
“We’re not Loyola Marymount from the late 80’s, we’re not Phoenix [Suns] from the last four years but we have to use Jason Kidd’s abilities to generate easy baskets to the best of our ability and at the same time we have to do it in a way that it doesn’t erode our defense.”
NEXT UP
No. 2 hopes to step up the defense tonight at San Antonio. Game time is scheduled for 7:30pm.
RELATED STORIES
Cleveland Cavaliers at Dallas Mavericks (HoopsWorld.com, Nov. 3rd 2008)
http://www.hoopsworld.com/Blogs/CourtsideBlog.asp?GAME_ID=28237&LEAGUE_CODE=NBA
Dallas Takes a Step Back Defensively (HoopsWorld.com, Nov. 3rd 2008)
http://www.hoopsworld.com/Story.asp?story_id=10460
Could the Dallas Mavericks be fit for King James? (Star-Telegram.com, Nov. 4th, 2008)
http://www.star-telegram.com/sports/story/1016680.html