As he’s made himself into one of the league’s best three-point shooters, Jason Kidd has learned some of the tricks of the trade that make NBA sharpshooters so deadly.

They came in handy on Monday night.

Jason’s Dallas Mavericks found themselves down seven points going into the fourth quarter against the undefeated New Orleans Hornets, but No. 2 advised his team to keep shooting.

"At some point, it’s going to open up," Jason said. "I’ve learned from the guys who shoot the ball a lot, like Jet, you got to keep firing it. Just keep letting it go."

J-Kidd let it go early in the final quarter and hit back-to-back triples to pull his team within four at 87-83. Then, with a little more than two minutes remaining, Dirk Nowitzki found Jason in the corner for a three that put his team up 93-90.

Dallas would not trail the rest of the way.

Over the final seven minutes, No. 2 drained three treys in three attempts and he finished with a season-high 16 points in Dallas’ 98-95 win over the Hornets.

As a unit, the Mavs hit six fourth quarter three pointers against the NBA’s second best three-point defense. Jason also racked up an impressive eight rebounds and six assists in the victory.

SMALL BALL
In a game that players compared to a mini-playoff series, it was clear that defensive effort was going to be crucial to pull out the win.

The Mavs started out very aggressive and forced New Orleans to miss their first five shots. J-Kidd capped an early 8-0 run with a 23-foot jumper.

Dallas lost their lead at the five-minute mark of the second quarter, but down 39-37, No. 2 sank a jumper off a pass from Jason Terry to even the game. Minutes later, Jason drove to the hoop only to kick it out to Brian Cardinal in the corner for a trey to pull Dallas back within one.

During the second and third quarters, each time the Mavs looked like they were ready to make a run, the Hornets would hit shots of their own to stifle Dallas’ momentum. But as the fourth progressed, Coach Rick Carlisle decided to put three guards on the offense. It was a gutsy call, and one that worked.

"Whenever we get in a rut or something, we go with the smaller group and that’s fine," Jason said.

Dirk Nowitzki told Mavs Moneyball that Jason is the reason the three-guard offense was so potent:

"Obviously we’re giving up a lot of size, but Kidd is the guy that makes it work because he can get away at playing at the 3-spot. He’s a big guard and he’s physical. He was battling his butt off, posting guys, rebounding, he’s the guy that makes it work."

As Jason and the other guards were raining down three pointers—15 of their first 21 points in the final quarter came from three-point range—they were playing solid defense as well. No. 2 and the Mavs held the Hornets to just five points in the final five minutes and just 19 points overall. After the game, Jason said he was impressed by the team defense:

"We got some stops when we needed them. They were undefeated for a reason. So, it was big for us to get stops at key times."

No. 2 made perhaps the biggest stop of the night in the final seconds of the game. With Dallas ahead 97-95, the Hornets managed two wide-open three-point shots. But after the second miss, Jason leapt into the air along the baseline and managed to secure the ball and the victory, with five seconds left.

NEXT UP
Despite the victory on Monday, which moved the Mavs within a game of the Southwest Division lead, No. 2 was measured in his excitement.

The season is still young and J-Kidd reiterated to Earl K. Snead of Mavs Fastbreak that his only focus is on the rematch at New Orleans tonight:

"We start the week off on the right note," Kidd said. "This is the second time. So, hopefully we can keep that record on the road undefeated and find a way to win in a tough place."

Dallas will be looking to extend their own personal winning streak to five games as they head to New Orleans to face the Hornets for the second straight time tonight. Tip-off is set for 7:00 p.m. CST and the game can be seen on Fox Sports Southwest.

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