Jason and Dirk came to play Thursday night, but they didn’t get much help from the rest of the Mavs.

Dallas shot 39.5% from the field in a 104-88 loss to the New Orleans Hornets.

Tied at halftime, the Mavs came out of the gates quickly in the third quarter. Nowitzki nailed a 3-pointer off of a J-Kidd assist to give them a 5-point advantage, but after that, the tired legs of the Mavs players — on their seventh game in 10 nights — were unable to keep up with the shifty Chris Paul.

Jason was the team’s second leading scorer with 13 points, but he was unable to keep up with the Hornets scoring explosion in the third. No 2, who also finished with 5 boards, 2 assists, and 3 steals, talked with the Star-Telegram about Chris Paul’s play:

“He just controlled the game from halftime on. He made all the right plays. We had the lob under control in the first half. We tried to take that away, but you can’t take away everything.”

HELPING OUT IN THE COMMUNITY
Friday, Jason will join Matt Carroll and Ryan Hollins to dedicate a newly refurbished indoor basketball court at the Mesquite branch of the Boys & Girls Club.

This is the 15th basketball court that the Mavericks and their foundation have renovated sine 1998. With the renovations, the Mesquite club will be able to expand programs for more than 500 at-risk youth aged 6 to 18.

WEEK IN REVIEW
Jason had a big week, as he became only the 4th player to reach 10,000 assists. If you missed J.Kidd in action, here’s what happened:

03.02.2009 | Ten Thousand Dimes
Jason not only led the Mavs to two victories over the weekend, but he also amassed his 10,000th assist and moved up to 7th on the league’s all-time steals list.

03.04.2009 | Slipping Up
J.Kidd and the Mavs rally from 20 points down came up just short against the injury-plagued Thunder.

03.05.2009 | J-Kidd for the Win
Jason nailed the game winning 3-pointer over the divisional rival Spurs in a 107-102 victory.

NEXT UP
The Mavs get some much-needed rest as they have a day off before facing the Washington Wizards Saturday at 7:30 pm.

RELATED STORIES
Mavericks 88, Hornets 104 (ESPN.com, Mar. 5th, 2009)
http://espn.go.com/nba/boxscore?gameId=290305003
Hornets take advantage of tired Mavericks (Star-Telegram, Mar. 6th, 2009)
http://www.star-telegram.com/287/story/1242461.html
Mavericks slammed, 104-88 (Mavs Blog, Mar. 5th, 2009)
http://mavsblog.dallasnews.com/archives/2009/03/mavericks-slammed-104-88-1.html
Mavs doing community work Friday (Mavs Blog, Mar. 5th, 2009)
http://mavsblog.dallasnews.com/archives/2009/03/mavs-doing-community-work-friday.html