Hold the San Antonio Spurs’ Tony Parker to under 36 percent shooting, and your team, in all likelihood, is going to win.

That’s precisely what Jason did during Dallas’ 88-67 blowout win Thursday night.

Defense was the theme of the night, as the Mavs allowed the least amount of points in their postseason history. keeping the Spurs to only 32.1 percent from the floor. How big was the win? Statistically speaking, it was huge.


Smooth (Getty Images).

Historically, in best-of-seven situations, the team that wins Game 3 after the series has started 1-1 has gone on to win 76 percent of the time.

Dallas’ Dirk Nowitzki told the Sporting News that the defense jumpstarted the Mavs offense:

“The defense helped our offense. By not taking the ball out every time we were able to run a little bit and got the ball into (Jason) Kidd’s hands on the break.”

Every Mavs starter, including Jason, finished with higher plus/minus numbers than minutes played. J-Kidd finished with a plus/minus of +26 to go along with 3 points, 8 boards, 6 assists, and 2 steals.

DEFENDING PARKER
One of the keys to the defensive efficiency of the Mavs was Jason’s ability to slow down Parker.

J-Kidd opened on Parker and didn’t allow him to get anywhere near the lane for easy layups. Parker was held to 12 points, which is 19 below his average for the series, on 35.7% shooting from the field.

But as J-Kidd explained with the Mavs Blog, it was a team effort.

“Just a different look. You’re going to throw multiple guys on him. The big thing is you’re hoping to wear him down with multiple guys. I just had an opportunity to start on him.”

WEEK IN REVIEW
This Week Jason and the Mavs began their first playoff series against the # 3 seeded Spurs, and have pulled ahead in the series 2-1. If you missed J-Kidd in action, here’s what happened:

4.20.2009 | A Road Win
Jason and the Mavs shocked the Spurs by coming back to wrest home-court advantage away from them with a Game 1 victory.

4.21.2009 | Splitting it Up
The Spurs came out on fire and the Mavs were never able to recover in Game 2, but the Mavs had already accomplished their purpose by splitting the series away.

4.23.2009 | Adapt and Improve
Jason talks about how the Mavs need to go back to how they played in Game 1 if they hope to finish off the upset of the #3 seeded Spurs.

NEXT UP
The Mavs look to go for the jugular with a win in Game 4 on Saturday at 3 pm CST on TNT.

After most of the Mavs starters were able to sit out for all of the fourth quarter, the Mavs should be well rested and ready to go Saturday afternoon. They’ll have to be focused as a veteran Spurs ball club is unlikely to come out as flat footed again.

RELATED STORIES
Spurs 67, Mavericks 88 (ESPN.com, Apr. 23rd, 2009)
http://espn.go.com/nba/boxscore?gameId=290423006
Dallas Mavericks make Spurs back off 88-67 (Star-Telegram, Apr. 24th, 2009)
http://www.star-telegram.com/287/story/1336982.html
Mavs defense got aggressive, not dirty (Sporting News, Apr. 24th, 2009)
http://www.sportingnews.com/yourturn/viewtopic.php?t=541813
Jason Kidd set the tone for Game 3 rout (Mavs Blog, Apr. 24th, 2009)
http://mavsblog.dallasnews.com/archives/2009/04/jason-kidd-set-the-tone-for-game-3-rout.html
Kidd is up to Challenge (Dallas Morning News, Apr. 24th, 2009)
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/spt/basketball/mavs/stories/042409dnspotrackingame3.3f43fa0.html
Mavs 88, Spurs 67: Your All-Access Pass (Dallasbasketball.com, Apr. 23rd, 2009)
http://www.dallasbasketball.com/fullColumn.php?id=1561