Motivated by a loss that shouldn’t have been, Jason Kidd needed just three quarters to get his team a vengeful victory against the Memphis Grizzlies.

After pushing the Dallas Mavericks to a 17-point lead in the final minutes of the third quarter Wenesday night, J-Kidd earned a fourth quarter reprieve as Dallas cruised to an easy 106-91 win over the Grizzlies at the FedExForum.

Of course the time off meant that Jason’s latest milestone will have to wait until Friday.

In just 26 minutes of game action, No. 2 continued his solid play against Dallas’ Southwest Division rivals with six points, 12 assists and a rebound. Jason’s 12 assists moved his career total to 10,999, one shy of an 11,000 mark that only one other point guard in NBA history has reached.

But waiting isn’t always a bad thing. Not only will the rest allow Jason to achieve the mark at home, but as Eddie Sefko of the Dallas Morning News noted, comfortable wins like Wednesday’s allow Jason to keep his minutes down and will pay big dividends during the playoffs:

"It’s been great for Kidd, so far. He has played more than 35 minutes in one of the first six games. And he’s normally been at 33 or lower.

Compare that to the 36 minutes he averaged last season and it’s a big difference. Those are three minutes that would come late in games when the wear and tear takes their toll. If Kidd’s minutes end up at 33 or lower this season, my guess is you’ll see a payoff come playoff time."

With the win, the Mavs improved to 3-0 on the road for the first time in eight seasons and their 5-2 overall record is tied for sixth best in the league.

UNSTOPPABLE OFFENSE
Behind a red-hot J-Kidd, the Mavs started strong offensively in the first.

Dallas drained four of their seven shots from the field in the early going, prompting an 11-4 run to take the 13-8 lead. Jason supplied two assists and six of the 11 points as he hit two triples in the first six minutes of the game.

At the midway point of the second, it was the Jason Kidd-Jason Terry connection that supplied much of the offense.

First J-Kidd found Terry for three to put the Mavs up 49-40. Then, moments later, No. 2 pump-faked and made a quick bounce pass through traffic to Terry in the corner. Jet’s jumper put the Mavs up by nine. The amazing part was that Dallas thrived even as Dirk Nowitzki went down with an ankle injury.

"I was still in my same mode. I was loose," Terry said. "J-Kidd was doing a great job of distributing and the shots were falling."

At halftime Dallas led by just five, but it was in the third quarter that J-Kidd showcased his Hall-of-Fame vision and instinct and took the game over.

On the Mavs’ second possession of the half, Jason penetrated the paint and kicked out to a wide-open DeShawn Stevenson in the corner for three. Two minutes later, Jason found Stevenson again for another triple to give Dallas their largest lead of the game, 67-53.

No. 2 capped a 20-5 Mavericks run with a bounce pass from the perimeter through the entire Memphis defense to Shawn Marion under the hoop for two easy points. It was Jason’s ninth assist and put Dallas up by 18.

But J-Kidd didn’t stop there. In the final five minutes, No. 2 exploited the Memphis defense and allowed his teammates to make the easy buckets.

He tossed a flawless lob to center Tyson Chandler, then found Brian Cardinal on a back door cut for the lay-in. Just before coming out of the game, J-Kidd drove to the hoop, but instead of finishing himself, he made a perfect pass to a trailing Chandler for the slam.

Mike Fisher, of Dallas Basketball described Jason’s superb play:

"If you watched this game, you saw that the oldest of newsmakers, Jason Kidd, is the sort of player who has more tricks up his sleeveless jersey than any five Grizzlies combined.

‘I was trying to stop the leak,’ Memphis coach Lionel Hollins said. "They were making layup after layup.’

That was Kidd causing Lionel’s train to go off the track. (Ha.)

Kidd is history. And with each of his dozen assists here – clever and crafty but at the same time solid and sound — he keeps making it."

NEXT UP
The Mavs head back to the American Airlines Center for the first matchup of their two-game home stand on Friday night.

Dallas hosts the 2-6 Philadelphia 76ers on Friday and with his first assist of the game, Jason will reach 11,000 assists for his career, so don’t miss a miss a minute.

Tip-off is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. CST and game will be televised locally on Fox Sports Southwest.

RELATED STORIES
Early on, NBA season is full of oddities, mysteries (Dallas Morning News, November 10, 2010)
Mavs Donuts: A Dozen-Or-So Takes From Memphis (Dallas Basketball, November 11, 2010)
Terry leads Mavs to win over Grizzlies (SI.com, November 10, 2010)
After The Fact: Mavericks Avenge Their Loss To Grizzlies, Win 106-91 (Mavs Moneyball, November 10, 2010)
Mavericks roll past Memphis, 106-91 (Dallas Morning News, November 10, 2010)