A little adversity on Monday night wasn’t going to slow down what’s become a well-oiled, winning machine for Jason Kidd and the Dallas Mavericks.

Already without coach Rick Carlisle due to minor knee surgery, the Mavs then dealt with losing star forward Dirk Nowitzki early in the second quarter of their game against the Oklahoma City Thunder. It was a tough blow to a team on the rise, but given the determination the Mavs have shown thus far, J-Kidd knew his team wouldn’t let the game slip away.

"With guys out and Coach Carlisle out, we could have easily said, ‘We’re here just for show.’ We have a bunch of guys who are on a mission right now," Jason said. "No matter who was hurt or who was not here, we had to go out and play and give ourselves a chance to win."

The Mavs did just that, as they played stellar defense in the fourth quarter, limiting the high-powered Oklahoma City offense to just 12 points on 4-of-18 shooting to come from behind for a convincing 103-93 victory. With the win, Dallas improved to 16-0 when scoring 100 points or more.

In Dirk’s absence, Jason was magnificent. Mavs assistant coach Dwane Casey, who filled in for the recovering Carlisle as head coach, gushed about Jason’s efforts after the game to Eark K. Snead of Mavs Fastbreak:

Casey credited Kidd with engineering the victory, after the future Hall of Famer finished just one rebound shy of his 106th career triple-double, tallying 10 points, 10 assists and nine boards.

"Jason Kidd directing everything and running the show willed us to a victory," Casey said.

No. 2 got the Mavs off to their fast start by picking his spots with pinpoint perfection. Jason nailed his first 3-point shot early in the first quarter, and then, on the Mavs next possession, hit a long 2-pointer to give his team the 11-10 lead.

After Dallas jumped ahead 19-12, the Thunder were forced to call a timeout, but that did little to damage No. 2’s rhythm. Right out of the timeout, J-Kidd found Dirk for an easy lay-in to make it 21-12. On the very next possession, Jason sunk his second triple and he followed that with a dish to Caron Butler for a long jumper, which gave the Mavs a 10-point advantage, 26-16.

UNSHAKABLE AND IMPENETRABLE
The Mavs were making it look easy early.

But with less than three minutes gone by in the second, Dirk was fouled on a made jumper and went down in agony. The big man stayed in to sink his free throw to make it 42-36 Mavs, but then exited the game and would not return.

Despite what an injury to a star could mean to a team, No. 2 wasn’t the slightest bit worried about his group’s ability to deal with the situation at hand.

 

"This is a veteran ball club and we’ve pretty much seen everything. Dirk is very reliable and durable. But when he left, I don’t think anybody blinked. I think everybody just stayed the course."

Dallas survived a late second quarter surge from the Thunder and the teams finished the half locked in a 56-56 tie.

After falling behind by one in the opening seconds of the third, Jason put his team back on top with a mid-range jumper to give Dallas a 58-57 lead. However it was the Thunder who outscored the Mavs 24-21 for the rest of the quarter and took a two-point lead into the final frame.

But in the fourth, the Mavs’ defense was nearly impenetrable. It was clear that Dallas was playing with a little extra attitude and Jason noted the change after the game, as quoted by Eddie Sefko of the Dallas Morning News:

"That’s the difference," Jason Kidd said. "We got a little more edge."

The Mavs held the Thunder to a mere 12 points in the final quarter. Kevin Durant, the NBA’s leading scorer, finished with 28 points, but had just five in the fourth.

Midway through the quarter, Dallas went on a 16-5 run that created a 97-89 lead and sealed the victory. Jason, for his part, assisted his teammates on three of their final five made baskets.

Their fill-in coach was thrilled with the effort Jason and the Mavs put forth on the road after nearly a week off.

"It was a complete team effort," said Dwane Casey, the assistant coach who was acting head coach while Rick Carlisle was back in Dallas recovering from knee surgery. "This should be a great confidence boost for our guys. They could have gone the other way when Dirk went out. But they pulled together."

NEXT UP
No. 2 and the Mavs will look to stretch their win streak to six tonight when they take on the Toronto Raptors at home in the American Airlines Center.

The Raptors are just 10-20 on the year, but still average over 100 points per game. The game is the back end of Dallas’ sixth back-to-back this season. The Mavs stand at 5-0 in back end games.

Tip-off is set for 7:30 p.m. CST and the game will be televised locally on Fox Sports Southwest.

RELATED STORIES