With the Spurs making one last push, Jason stepped up like he has all year and knocked down a shot from way downtown to give the Mavs a 107-102 victory.

The Mavs responded to Cuban calling them out in a big way as they outplayed the Spurs throughout the game. The Mavs have now won 16 of their last 18 home games and have given themselves some breathing room as they are now 3 games ahead of the 9th place Suns.

J-Kidd was terrific running the show, as he constantly pushed the ball to give the Mavs easy buckets. One fast break in the 2nd quarter epitomized his whole night as after having grabbed the board, No.2 quickly looked up the court and threw a beautiful bounce pass between two players to give the streaking Maverick an easy lay up.

Still, even with their strong shooting and crisp ball movement, the Mavs knew that the Spurs weren’t going to go down easy. Up by 10 late in the 4th, Tony Parker put the Spurs on his back and cut the Mavs lead to 2. With the game on the line, Terry swung the ball to J.Kidd who nailed a 3-pointer to finish off the Spurs.

Jason finished the game with a magnificent stat line of 17 points, 7 boards, 9 assists, and a +/- of +12. No.2 talked about his big 3-pointer with Hoops World after the game:

“I had a feeling they would try to double Dirk, we tried to get Dirk at the free-throw line, so he could see the double-team and I chose to go to Terry’s side, because I felt that if they were coming off of me, that I would have a wide open shot.”

“It was just up to me to make it or miss. I felt that I was going to make it, I wanted the shot.”

PICK-AND-ROLL
As huge as Jason’s 3-pointer was, he said that the real key to the game was going to a play that they hadn’t used since last years playoffs.

The Mavs had their best stretch of the game in the 3rd quarter when Jason saw that the Spurs were scrambling in transition and decided to run a play that the Mavs hadn’t run since Avery Johnson was coach. The play involved J.Kidd giving up the ball to Terry who would receive a double-screen from Dampier and Nowitzki. After the screen, Dampier would roll to the hoop and Nowitzki would pop out for the open jumper.

Jason talked about the play call that sparked a 6-0 run to end the third with ESPN.com:

“We ran it like five times in a row and I think we scored every time. We were talking about different things that worked

[last year] and fell right into it.”

Carlisle talked with the Mavs Blog about Jason’s decision to call that play:

“That was just a high basketball IQ play.”

J-KIDD’S GREATNESS
After the game, Coach Carlisle talked with the Star-Telegram about Jason’s strong play:

“He’s a great player. The things he does for this team … how much better he makes guys when he’s on the floor. It’s just beyond belief.”

“I was really happy for him because the game meant a lot to him just from the standpoint of it’s a big-time team in our division [and] the matchup against Parker is one that everybody talks about. So much of Kidd’s greatness gets overlooked when he doesn’t put up big point numbers. ”

“And that’s a sin. It’s a sin. Shame on the media for that.”

CUBAN’S HAPPY
A day after calling out his team and threatening to cut all of them, the Mavs showed him that they could step up their effort with their win against the Spurs.

Cuban talked with ESPN.com about how he was pleased with the effort that his guys displayed against the Spurs:

“If we play hard every possession like we did tonight, we can beat a really good team. Now it’s up to the guys to keep on doing it. … I knew what we were capable of. We got leadership from Dirk and Josh and Jason Kidd. Everybody was really good. Now we’ve got to do this again and again.”

NEXT UP
The schedule doesn’t get any easier for the Mavs or for Jason Kidd as they face another great point guard in Chris Paul Thursday night. You can watch the Mavs face up against the Hornets on the road at 7 pm on TNT.

Still looking to be consistent on the road, a key stat for the Mavs is their shooting percentage. When they shot 45% from the field they are 27-4 so look for Jason Kidd to push the pace to get the Mavs in a good rhythm early.

RELATED STORIES
Spurs 102, Mavs 107 (ESPN.com, Mar. 4th, 2009)
http://espn.go.com/nba/boxscore?gameId=290304006
Mavs hold off Spurs late (Hoopsworld, Mar. 4th, 2009)
http://www.hoopsworld.com/TheWireStory.asp?id=17330
Howard, Kidd drive inspired Mavericks by Spurs (ESPN.com, Mar. 4th, 2009)
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/recap?gameId=290304006&campaign=rsssrch&source=jason+kidd
The genius of Jason Kidd (Mavs Blog, Mar. 5th, 2009)
http://mavsblog.dallasnews.com/archives/2009/03/the-genius-of-jason-kidd.html
Zone defense for Dallas Mavericks might work…might not (Star Telegram, Mar. 5th, 2009)
http://www.star-telegram.com/287/story/1239884.html