As Jason Kidd and the Mavericks advanced through each round of the playoffs, it was clear that there was something special about the 2010-2011 team.

Upon reaching the Finals, the Mavs sat just four wins away from turning a special season into a dream come true. It was a familiar position for Jason, who had twice brought his New Jersey Nets team to within four wins of the title. Through those two experiences, Jason knew to be ready for anything and was able to guide Dallas to an NBA title.

"The big thing is just

[helping] my teammates understand the moment and stay in the moment. That’s my biggest role," Jason said before the Finals. "I’m a totally different player in the sense of carrying the load in the first two. The first two Finals, it was ‘Make things happen.’ But here, it’s ‘Make things happen, but also be on the receiving end of somebody else making things happen.’"

We wrap Championship Week at JasonKidd.com with a look at an epic Finals series that saw the Mavericks win their first championship and J-Kidd secure his spot in NBA lore.

NBA Finals: Miami Heat
Mavs win series 4-2
J-Kidd by the numbers: 7.7 ppg, 6.3 apg, 4.5 rpg, 1.2 spg. 12-of-28 (43 percent) from three.

The Mavericks entered the Finals as the underdogs in the eyes of many, challenged by a team with three NBA superstars on a mission. But that didn’t phase Jason one bit.

"I’m always facing the best of the best at this time of the year," he said of his Finals luck. "It wasn’t easy the first two times around. Now you got two of the top players in the world, and Bosh is right there in the top 10. If you want to win a championship, you have to go against the best."


After dropping Game 1 and falling behind in Game 2, J-Kidd and the Mavs turned the tables on Miami (Getty Images).

Miami was as good as advertised in Game 1 and defeated the Mavs 92-84 to take an early lead in the series. Dallas fell behind big again in Game 2 and the Heat seemed to have them on the ropes. But where others failed this postseason, the Mavs always found an extra gear. The Finals were no different.

Staring a 15-point fourth quarter deficit in the face yet again, Dallas didn’t blink as coach Rick Carlisle put his faith in J-Kidd down the stretch. The Mavs started limiting shots, No. 2 commanded the offense from the floor and Dallas started to roll.

"You can’t give an explosive offensive team so many shots at the basket," Dirk Nowitzki said. "You’ve got to hold them to one shot, rebound the ball and then hopefully speed the game up some, get the ball in J-Kidd’s hands and play more of our game."

The result was a 22-5 game-ending run to victory and a split in Miami as the series shifted back to Dallas. Jason felt that the Game 2 win was the turning point in the series:

"When we looked at each other and we found a way to win, being down 15," No. 2 said. "We were in that same boat in the Oklahoma series. We were in the same boat in the Portland series, where — actually, we were in that same situation in every series we were in. Portland we give up the 23-point lead and lose, and we looked at each other and said that can’t happen again. And so L.A. Game 1 we’re down 16 or 15 and we find a way to win that. So I think we were a little bit comfortable playing from behind. As much as we wanted to get the lead, it just didn’t happen."

Miami grabbed Game 3 to take the series lead back, but it would be the last time the Heat would taste victory. In Game 4, Jason stepped up on defense, limiting LeBron James to a mere eight points in a Dallas win.

Game 5 marked the last game of the season at the American Airlines Center and No. 2 and the Mavs sent the building out with a bang. Jason’s dagger three with a minute and-a-half remaining gave Dallas a five-point cushion. It was a lead they wouldn’t relinquish on their way to finally taking control of the series, three games to two.

"It’s all about our leader, Jason Kidd," Jason Terry said that night. "The way he plays the game, the way he has always played the game rubs off."

The Mavs needed just one chance to close the series, bringing their record in closeout games to a perfect 4-0 in the 2011 postseason with a 105-95 win in Game 6. The victory gave Jason his first title after a 17-year wait and Dallas its first championship in the franchise’s 31-year history.

"This is what I put the uniform on for is to try to win a championship," Jason told ESPN Radio New York’s Mike Lupica. "You start in October and the journey will take you up-and-down and sometimes it’ll make yourself question what I am still doing playing? Cause I don’t think it’s going to happen, but that’s the time you have to dig deeper and work harder and that’s what I did this season."

Coach Rick Carlisle offered Jason the highest praise for leading the Mavs to the title.

"Jason Kidd’s DNA is all over this thing," said head coach Rick Carlisle. "You don’t see some of the gaudy statistics in terms of points scored or things like that, but the way he has facilitated our team on the court with his leadership ability, his knowledge of our team, the example he sets by playing with a certain level of intensity…on the other hand he’s extremely cool under pressure.

"He is one of the all-time greats. There is absolutely no question about it. For Jason Kidd, this moment completely validates his career as being one of those super-super-super-superstars."