In the midst of a difficult road trip, there are bound to be games that don’t go exactly as planned.
Jason Kidd and the Dallas Mavericks played their third game in four days on Wednesday and it was one of those nights.
The Mavericks led the New Orleans Hornets for the majority of the game and by as much as 11 points. But Dallas showed some fatigue late and the Hornets closed the game strong with an 8-0 run to steal the 93-92 victory.
"We didn’t close the door," said J-Kidd, who finished the game with seven assists, three points, a steal and a rebound. "Sometimes you have to go through this."
It was just the third loss in the past 21 games for Dallas and all three have been by three points or fewer.
But Jason made no excuses. Instead, he was disappointed in the lack of execution down the stretch. The Mavs let up a 12-3 run in the final minutes of regulation.
"We did everything to lose the game," he said. "We didn’t make plays down in the end, so you’ve got to give the Hornets credit. They kept playing. They got one. We did everything to lose it."
Both teams were sluggish to start the game and finished the first quarter tied at 16. But the Mavericks surged in the second to take a 46-43 lead at halftime.
Early in the third, Jason found Dirk Nowitzki for three to get the Dallas offense rolling on all cylinders. Meanwhile, the Mavs played some of their best defense of the game, limiting New Orleans to just 17 points to take a 10-point lead into the final frame.
With his team looking to pull away, No. 2 began to feed his teammates with greater frequency in the fourth. He found Dirk and Jason Terry for two-point jumpers and then Brian Cardinal for a trey that gave Dallas an eight-point advantage with under three minutes to play.
But the Hornets pulled back into the game and finished on an 8-0 run to clinch the victory. That run was culminated when J-Kidd fouled Jarrett Jack behind the three-point line with 8.4 seconds left, setting up the points that put New Orleans in front.
"If we make free throws or get a stop, the game is over," No. 2 said. "I felt that Jack was going to shoot the three, so I tried to crowd him. But he did a good job of drawing the foul. As a defender, you don’t think you fouled, but they called it and it was a smart play on his part. But at the same point, we had eight seconds left and came up short."
NEXT UP
Jason and the Mavs will have a quick opportunity to rebound on the second night of a back-to-back when they host the New York Knicks for their fourth game in five nights.
Tip-off is set for 8:30 p.m. CST and the game will be televised locally on Fox Sports Southwest and nationally on TNT.
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