With Hall-of-Fame point guard Jason Kidd leading the way, the Dallas Mavericks went into their game against the Phoenix Suns on Saturday night with a clear game plan:

Push the tempo.

The Mavs stuck to the plan and executed to perfection, finishing the game with 23 fast break points and 14 points off 12 Suns turnovers on the way to a 106-91 win.

Jason continually found the open man on the break and led the charge with eight assists and two steals to go along with four points and four rebounds.

Coach Rick Carlisle explained the blueprint, as quoted by Mavs Moneyball:

"Our plan was to push the ball, so we tried to keep it up-tempo. Our best offense was coming when we were getting stops and getting it in Jason Kidd’s hands and getting out there."

While their offense rolled up the points, the Mavs defense held the Suns offense—which averages 109 points per game—to just 91.

The victory gave the Mavs a 5-1 record during the season’s longest homestand and J-Kidd was happy with his team’s performance over the last week and a half:

"I thought it was a great homestand, 5-1," Jason said. "We hadn’t been playing well at home. We had a lot of leads, big leads and we’ve given some away, but the big thing is we’re learning how to play with a lead, and sometimes we fall in the trap of just going through the motions. But I thought we had a great homestand."

TWO GREATS AT POINT
The game with the Suns featured a match-up of two of the great point guards in the NBA: Jason and Steve Nash.

Along with incredible court-vision and basketball knowledge, No. 2 pinpointed another trait that makes the two stand out above the rest:

"We’re both competitors. He wants to win, I want to win," Kidd said. "But, I think the big thing is we’ve been in the league long enough that at the end of the day we’re going to do whatever it takes for our team to win."

Jason got the Mavs going early when he found DeShawn Stevenson just beyond the arc for a 3-pointer that capped an early 5-0 run by the Mavs.

After shooting just 39 percent from the field in the first, the Mavs found themselves trailing 25-22 heading into the second quarter. But with 9:02 remaining in the second and the game knotted at 30, Dallas went on a 20-12 run to finish the quarter and take a commanding lead. They would not trail again.

No. 2 played a stellar third period. First, he found center Tyson Chandler for an easy bucket to extend the Mavs’ lead to 60-46, then, moments later, Jason found Dirk Nowitzki for the triple. J-Kidd capped the 12-2 run by hitting back-to-back lay-ins to give Dallas the 70-48 lead.

After three quarters, the Mavs found themselves on top with an 80-59 lead, while holding the Suns to just 35 percent from the field. With the victory in hand after the third, Jason got a chance to rest his legs during the final period.

NEXT UP
Jason and the Mavs face a different Miami Heat team tonight than the one they beat back in late November.

After Dallas’ 106-95 victory, the Heat had a players only meeting and have since won 12 in a row. Of course the Mavs also enter the game as winners of 14-of-15.

This can’t-miss rematch is scheduled to start at 6:30 p.m. CST and will be aired nationally on NBA TV and locally on Fox Sports Southwest.

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