Wednesday night saw Jason do everything you’d expect from a future Hall of Famer.

No. 2 facilitated key plays, drained clutch shots and made defensive stops on MVP candidate Dwyane Wade en route to a memorable 98-96 Dallas victory over the visiting Miami Heat.

Led by J-Kidd (three points, 11 assists, four boards, and a steal), the Mavericks overcame an 11-point deficit late to pull out the victory.  It was Jason — teaming with Dallas’ Jason Terry — who hit three-pointers at the five minute mark that put the Mavs ahead, 93-91.

Jason’s stifling defense played a huge role in Dallas’ 98-96 win over Miami (Getty Images).

After that, it was Jason’s defense that did the talking up until the final play of the game. With 2.3 seconds remaining, J-Kidd faced off against Wade, and the rest — as well as the overall quality of Jason’s play — was chronicled well by Rob Mahoney of Two Man Game:

“I’d be lying to you if I said that I just knew it would end up that way. Even with the Mavs clutching a small lead, the big Wade shot seemed inevitable. But a strange thing happened, and I’d like to think that this is at least one area improvement since the original letdown of ‘06: it never game. Jason Kidd denied, denied, denied, and when Wade did get the ball, the double-team came immediately and Kidd went into an all-out frenzy to swipe the ball away. The result? Dwyane Wade’s last real shot attempt (excluding his last second heave from the three-point line) went up with 5:03 left in the fourth quarter, and his last actual points with nearly 6. Somehow the Mavs denied one of the best players in basketball from getting a shot up for five straight minutes, and in the process yanked the crutch out from under Michael Beasley, Mario Chalmers, and Udonis Haslem. Instead, the late game heroics came from Wade’s 2003 draftmate Josh Howard, and his Olympic teammate Jason Kidd. Wade has only gotten better since 2006, but on this one night in April you never would have guessed it.”

“How great was Jason Kidd in this game? His denial defense over the last half quarter was superb, but he played solid D on Wade throughout. Antoine Wright shared the defensive billing at times, but the reason Wade was held to a pedestrian 23 points (9-20 FG), 6 assists, 4 turnovers, and just 6 free throw attempts was because Kidd barely gave him room to breathe. And somewhere in there, he managed to rack up 11 assists and hit one of the biggest shots in the game, a three pointer that pulled the Mavs within one with just five and a half minutes to go. Howard may have prevented Chalmers from getting an honest look at a game-winner, but Kidd got a hand on the ball before Wade could throw up a prayer in the corner at endgame.”

Carlisle talked to Dallasbasketball.com about Jason’s clutch defensive play at the end of the game:

“The last play was a key play. Kidd was able to get a piece of the ball in the corner. (Wade) had to re-grip and double-hitch. A huge play.’’

Dallas is now  17-4 when the game is decided by 5 points of less.

STRETCH RUN
With the win, the Mavs all but guaranteed themselves a playoff position as they moved four games ahead of the Suns for the eighth playoff spot in the West, with only seven games remaining.

Now it’s time to see if the Dallas can improve its seeding and avoid a first-round face off against the Los Angeles Lakers.

NEXT UP
The Mavs head back on the road Friday night to play the Grizzlies at 7pm CST.

RELATED STORIES
Heat 96, Mavericks 98 (ESPN.com, Apr. 1st, 2009)
http://espn.go.com/nba/boxscore?gameId=290401006
Dallas Mavericks 98, Miami Heat 96 (The Two Man Game, Apr. 2nd, 2009)
http://www.thetwomangame.com/2009/04/dallas-mavericks-98-miami-heat-96/
Charge! J-Ho’s Defense Keys Win Over Heat (Dallasbasketball.com, Apr. 2nd, 2009)
http://www.dallasbasketball.com/fullColumn.php?id=1475
Mavericks escape, 98-96 (Mavs Blog, Apr. 1st, 2009)
http://mavsblog.dallasnews.com/archives/2009/04/mavericks-escape-98-96.html
Dallas Mavericks could catch some falling stars (Dallas Morning News, Apr. 2nd, 2009)
http://www.dallasnews.com/s/dws/nwsltr/sports/mavs/stories/040209dnspomavsletter.9478461d.html