When the Mavs have needed anything this postseason, Jason Kidd has always found a way to step up to the challenge. As much as anyone, he has been a driving factor to Dallas’ success.

"On our team he’s a superstar. That’s how important he is to us," Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle said. "He has the ability to process situations at a different and at a higher level than a lot of us. It’s part of his genius as a player and as a leader."


With a strong all around game, Jason Kidd helped the Mavs take the series lead back in a Game 3 victory.

At this point in the NBA season, all contributions and all wins are crucial. It can be argued, however, that Dallas’ battle with the Oklahoma City Thunder on Saturday, with the series tied at one game apiece, was especially important. ESPN Dallas highlighted the high-stakes nature of Game 3:

"How important is tonight’s game for the Thunder? In the history of the NBA playoffs, when the home team has won Game 3 of a best-of-seven series that was tied at 1-1, it has gone on to win the series 70 percent of the time. When the home team has lost Game 3 in that situation, it has gone on to win the series only 16 percent of the time."

With that much on the line, it’s little wonder that J-Kidd rose to the challenge again on Saturday. A veteran of the point, No. 2 led the Mavs on a lightning fast charge to a 93-87 defeat of the Thunder, giving Dallas a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven series. Jason was proud of the way his teammates came out and performed in front of a hostile crowd in OKC, as quoted by Mavs Moneyball:

"Guys stepped up," he said. "Everybody is gonna look at Dirk and everybody expects superhuman things every time he’s on the floor, but he’s human. He and JET had a bad night, but we kept playing as a team and, again, we’ve always won and lost as a team. Hopefully those two guys will have a better outing come Monday."

Among those who picked up the slack was J-Kidd, who gave the game everything it needed on his end, with 13 points, eight assists, six rebounds and four steals. By all accounts, he was pivotal in leading the winning charge on Saturday. Bob Sturm, a contributor to The Dallas Morning News, was particularly impressed with Jason’s efforts:

"Jason Kidd and Shawn Marion in particular should be highlighted in this game rehash. Kidd brought The Fugees to mind as he played his enemy like a game of chess. His work on both ends of the court is so cerebral. He knows where to be. He sees the game before it happens. He still must execute by making the shot or defending the man, but there may not be 5 players in the history of the game with a higher basketball IQ than Kidd.

"The fact that the Mavs are where they are with a 38-year old Point Guard is very difficult to comprehend, but the only way that is possible is if it is based on a brilliant PG who can make up physical slowness with mental quickness. And as he baits another defender into free throws or with his eyes can look off backside help to set up another lob pass and dunk, you realize you are looking at something very special when you watch Kidd. He is at the heart of last night’s victory and his 13 point, 8 assist, 6 rebound, and 4 steal stat line confirms it."

Even opposing head coach Scott Brooks has found himself in awe of J-Kidd’s performance thus far in the series:

"Jason, as you all know from the last 17 or 18 years he’s been in this league, gives you everything he has," Brooks said. "He’s what you want out of a professional athlete, did everything on the floor for his team. Nothing he does surprises me, other than playing the way he’s playing at his age.

"I mean, I couldn’t do it when I was 30, play good basketball. He’s doing it late in his 30s. Give him a lot of credit. He keeps his body and mind in shape, he’s a well conditioned athlete and plays hard every night. He battles and competes against whoever he has in front of him and that’s what you want. He’s a terrific player."

FAST START
Led by No. 2, the Mavs jumped out to a huge early lead.

Dallas racked up eight assists in the first quarter, three of which came off Jason’s hand, while the Thunder failed to register even one. In addition to his three early dimes, J-Kidd nailed a triple from the right wing to put the Mavs ahead 21-8. By the end of the first frame Dallas was in command, 27-12.

When J-Kidd returned to action midway through the second, Dallas led 40-21, and he immediately got to work on extending that commanding advantage. Jason found Peja Stojakovic and Shawn Marion for buckets, just as he had in the first, then nailed his second trey of the game to bulge the score to 51-29. It was 52-36 at the break.

Thunder center Kendrick Perkins noted that anytime the Mavs needed something extra, Jason was right there to make it happen:

"Jason Kidd ran their team," Perkins said. "Every time they got down or something, he made a big play or a great pass."

With the Thunder making a push to get back in the game, Jason stepped up once again in the third. It was an example of what coach Rick Carlisle has seen No. 2 do time and time again:

"He does so many things that can not be quantified on the stats sheet," Carlisle said. "Just from having a calming influence when a team is making

[a run], a knack for hitting big shots and finding the window to deliver the ball at the right time to the right guy. And defensively, he did a great job the whole game of communicating to everybody what was going on, because our coverages were good. But we did change things a lot on the fly, and he’s a guy that’s directing traffic out there for us."

Jason also sunk the first two Maverick buckets of the second half to push the lead back out to 20 and had a hand in 13 of the Mavs’ 18 points for the period, but the Thunder showed they had some life late in the third and pulled to within 14 by the end of the period.

Oklahoma City kept coming in the fourth, cutting the lead down to within a single digit margin. But despite watching a 22-point third quarter lead dwindle in the fourth, Jason noted after the game that there were no worries among the Dallas squad about a repeat of Game 4 in Portland.

"We’re an old team, so if we didn’t have any experiences to draw on right now then we’d be in trouble. It’s about just understanding the situation, we’re not thinking ahead. We’re thinking about the moment right now. Again, basketball is about runs, 6-0 run, 10-0 run, and you just try to minimize that. For a defensive team, you try not to let them get off a 10-nothing run. And they made a run at us, but nobody panicked.

"The guys that needed to touch the ball touched the ball and they made plays. We understand that we have given up leads and we’ve lost games, and this was just another we could draw back from. I don’t think guys brought [Game 4 in Portland] up, but just understood we’ve got to finish this the right way."

Finish the right way the Mavs did. Their lead was dropped to as little as six by the three-minute mark, but Dallas made the defensive plays to carry out the victory and regain home-court advantage.

BALL THIEF EXTRAORDINAIRE
No. 2 has nine steals over the past two games, 12 in the series and a league-leading total of 28 for the postseason.

Just days after becoming the second oldest player ever to make five steals in an NBA playoff game J-Kidd was right back at it again on Saturday with four more. Most impressive of all, at 38, the future hall-of-famer is on pace to set new career highs for total steals and average steals per game in the playoffs. Jeff Caplan of ESPN Dallas wrote recently about Jason’s incredible talent on the defensive end:

"Jason Kidd is defying age and, quite frankly, the odds this postseason. He’s obviously a steady presence on offense, averaging 10.0 points and 7.5 assists. It’s at the other end of the floor where Kidd’s performances have been eye-opening against some of the league’s top scorers.

Can’t guard Kobe Bryant? No hope against Russell Westbrook? Not a chance against Kevin Durant?

Kidd can’t check those guys for an entire game, but the 38-year-old is showing he has enough left in his legs to combine with a savvy noggin to be an effective defender against taller and quicker guards that can light it up.

"I believe that I still have that athletic ability," Kidd said. "I probably lie to myself, but I can still do the things I could do at 25 or 26. But, sometimes I’m brought back down to understand that I’m not as fast as I once was."

Teammate Jason Terry, who has been on the other end of J-Kidd’s defense prior to his stint in Dallas, is unsurprised by the point guard’s excellence during these playoffs, as he told Caplan:

"Until you line up face-to-face against him, which I did for four years in Atlanta, and you realize this guy’s competitive spirit and what drives him to be great, then you would never know," Jason Terry said. "You can’t watch a game, you can’t read about it in the newspaper, you’ve got to line up in front of him. Once you do, then you understand. For him, I know what’s driving him and that’s that championship trophy."

Jason notes that all he’s trying to do is help his team in whatever way he can.

"Knowing that I’m not as fast, you’ve got to anticipate and sometimes you might guess wrong," Kidd said. "The big thing is to make it as tough as possible. These guys are extremely athletic and talented and understand how to play.

"I’ve been in the league long enough. I’ve been scored on. It’s not like if they score it’s something new. You don’t let that affect you, you just keep on playing."

NEXT UP
Jason and the Mavs take that mentality into tonight’s Game 4, where they’ll face another battle in Oklahoma City.

Dallas has hopes of taking a 3-1 lead back to the American Airlines Center on Wednesday, but they’ll need a defensive performance like they got in Game 3 to pull it off.

"There’s a lot of basketball still to be played in this series," Jason said. "So we don’t want to be thinking a little bit too far ahead. We just want to concentrate on Game 4."

Tonight’s tip is scheduled for at 8 p.m. CST and the game will air nationally on ESPN.

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