While the 2010-2011 campaign nears its halfway point, the leader of the Dallas Mavericks continues to excel where and when his team needs him.

Jason Kidd has been a key to the Mavs’ 26-10 start, good for second-best in the Western Conference. And while his team has been hit with the injury bug of late, the Hall-of-Fame point guard has taken it upon himself to carry more of the load until teammates Dirk Nowitzki and Roddy Beaubois can return.

Tim MacMahon of ESPN Dallas spoke to Dallas coach Rick Carlise about No. 2’s increased minutes during the past two weeks:

"It’s something I’m always looking at," Carlisle said. "But it’s tough. Right now, he’s one of our most influential players. The trick is to play him the right number of minutes without overdoing it. I’m looking closely at that all the time and will continue to."

Kidd is on board with a reduced workload, but he’s not complaining right now. He knows the Mavs need him to pick up some slack with Nowitzki out and Rodrigue Beaubois yet to make his season debut."

For Jason, it’s simply about giving whatever he can to help the team:

"I’m racking up some minutes, but I feel fine," he told ESPN Dallas. "The big thing is, once we get healthy, my minutes will go down. Hopefully, we’ll got Roddy and Dirk back shortly."

OPENING RIGHT
The Mavericks got off to a phenomenal start this season and J-Kidd led the charge from the outset.

In the first game of the year, against the Charlotte Bobcats, No. 2 came within one assist of tying John Stockton’s opening night record of 19. Then Bobcats coach Larry Brown couldn’t say enough about Jason and the way his game raises the play of everyone around him:

"Jason Kidd just dominated the game," Brown, a point guard aficionado, told the Dallas Morning News. "He got everyone the ball, so unselfish. I don’t think Dirk

[Nowitzki] or [Jason] Terry took a tough shot. They had great looks because of him (Kidd).

"Just about every player is better when he plays with somebody like that," Brown added."

Brown is one of many who continue to be dazzled by Jason’s stellar play this season, but the most appreciative are the benefactors of that success, his teammates:

"(We’re) playing with the greatest point guard, one of the best ever," Caron Butler said with high regard for his floor general.

Shawn Marion, who is enjoying his fourth season playing alongside Jason, in a second city, took his praise a few steps further when discussing No. 2 with HoopsWorld:

"Jason Kidd is a master of the game," Marion said. "He’s the definition of a point guard. He doesn’t hold it too long, he play both ends of the floor, and he may not be able to shut down people for the full time of the game like he used to, but he comes out in that last three minutes or so and he’s going to lock up."

"I played with him [Marion’s first two years in Phoenix] when he’d pressure you full court, and then get right back the other way full court. He can’t do that anymore, but at the same time he’s learned how to be so dynamic and so creative on the floor that he knows when it’s his chance to do certain things and he takes advantage of it to the fullest. People should really look at how he’s an all-around point guard. He plays both ends of the floor, he can post up, he can shoot the three, he can come off pick-and-rolls, and he’s one of the best transition point guards in the league – still, right now."

STREAK STOPPERS
J-Kidd followed his solid opening night performance with more strong play as Dallas raced out to a 6-2 start, setting up a matchup with the unbeaten New Orleans Hornets.

The Hornets played host to the Mavs and fully expected to finish the game with their ninth-consecutive victory to start the year. Jason, however, had other ideas.

The point guard finished with eight assists, but most impressive was his shooting. He went 6-of-8 from the field, an incredible 75 percent, including 60 percent from three and finished with 16 points during the 98-95 win.

It was the first of several streaks the Mavericks stopped during their early season run. Dallas has squelched six streaks of five-games or more this season, including the Hornets’ nine-gamer and 12-game streaks by the Miami Heat and San Antonio Spurs. The Mavericks are actually the only team to have beaten Miami since November 24th and they’ve done-so twice in that span, in which Miami is 22-0 against everyone else.

"We relish the challenge," Jason told Dallas Basketball after defeating the Heat a second time. "We got to rely on our defense if we want to win. Our offense is going to come and go, but we rely on our defense that we’ve got to get stops. We did that in the fourth quarter and capitalized on the other end. Even if we miss a shot, we just felt like we could get another shot and get another crack at it at the other end."

Along with stellar defense, Jason has averaged eight points and nine assists per game this season, solid numbers that have helped his team get out to an impressive 26-10 record.

NUMBER 106
After slaying the Heat in Miami, Jason and the Mavs went on to beat both Orlando and Oklahoma City on their home floors thanks to two double-double performances from No. 2.

J-Kidd has five double-doubles this year and recently grabbed his 106th career triple-double in a game against the rival San Antonio Spurs.

But due to injuries to key players, such as Nowitzki, they couldn’t finish the Spurs and instead Jason’s big night came in a 99-93 loss, only Dallas’ seventh of the season.

The future hall-of-famer, humble as always, told reporters he would gladly give up the triple-double for the win, as ESPN Dallas‘ Tim McMahon noted after speaking with Jason:

Jason Kidd didn’t consider the 106th triple-double cause for celebration.

"They come and go," Kidd said after his 12-point, 10-rebound, 13-assist performance in the loss to the Spurs. "It was a triple-double, and we lost. I’d rather us win and not get a triple-double."

It’s not as if there’s anything too special about Kidd getting a triple-double against the Spurs.

He’s had seven triple-doubles in his career against the Spurs. That matches the most Kidd has had against any team, as he’s also had seven against the Kings.

TRICKS OF THE TRADE
Jason’s continued excellence has been one of the more interesting aspects of the Mavs’ season thus far.

14 times this season, J-Kidd has posted 10 points or more. But he’s as aware as anyone that shooting is not what his game is predicated on.

"If my game was ever judged on me making baskets I probably wouldn’t be in the league," he joked recently.

Instead, opponents need to game plan for Jason to do anything and everything. He has passed out double-digits in assists 13 times this year, grabbed 10 rebounds on two occasions, picked off at least three steals 10 times in 36 games and don’t forget his defense.

New Mavs center Tyson Chandler certainly hasn’t. Chandler said he is amazed at what the point guard can do day-in and day-out and he knows that No. 2 has done it all to help Dallas keep winning:

"J-Kidd, he surprises me all the time. He keeps digging into that tank and pulling out tricks. One night he’s making every single pass. (In Utah), he’s making every single three. (Against Sacramento), he’s making every single defensive play. The guy’s amazing."

Along those same lines, Mavericks beat writer Eddie Sefko of The Dallas Morning News, marveled at J-Kidd’s ability to go out each and every night and contribute to his team’s victories with his age-defying play:

"Smart and quicker than anybody should be when they are 37. A good leader and teacher for players barely half his age. Yes, I’m a fan. His offense is down to passing and spotting up for threes. But everything he does is still a positive for this organization."

NEXT UP
Jason and the Mavericks begin a four-game road trip in Indiana tonight, where they’ll take on the Pacers.

The Mavs will be looking to stop a two-game losing streak after home losses to the Oklahoma City Thunder and Orlando Magic last week. Jason told ESPN Dallas recently that he has identified a few things that have been causing the Mavericks some trouble since Dirk Nowitzki went down:

"We’re driving a lot more and trying to create to get guys open shots and sometimes we’re trying to squeeze the ball in there and turnovers like that happen when you’re trying to do something positive," Kidd said. "It’s not a negative thing, but it turns out to be a negative thing because you turn the ball over. Guys are trying to do something different by driving and getting another guy a wide-open shot."

No. 2 also noted that, with the Mavericks having lost five of seven, he feels they have lost some confidence and getting it back is paramount to their success.

"You want to get better each time you take the floor and make sure there’s no hesitation or doubts in each other," he said. "I think that’s one thing that we’ve kind of lacked the last couple games is that we haven’t trusted defensively when you make a mistake instead of just communicating and working it out.

"Every team goes through it. You go through a stretch where you make some mistakes, and you start not trusting and go back to old habits. We just got to tighten that up and make sure it doesn’t go on longer."

Of course it would help to get back to full health, especially if that means Nowitzki returns to the lineup. But until that point, J-Kidd is encouraging his teammates to weather the storm:

"I think we would like to have a full team, but the NBA is like that," he said. "It’s a fine line. It only takes a quick tenth-of-a-second for someone to get hurt. But we feel we’re deep enough and we’ve got enough guys in here to get wins. You can look at it so many different ways, but I think at the end of the day we’ll be a better team with Dirk getting back and us continuing to play the way that we were playing."

The Mavericks and the Pacers tip-off from the Conseco Fieldhouse in Indiana at 6 p.m. CST and the game will air locally on Fox Sports Southwest.

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