For more than six years, Jason Kidd was intimately familiar with traveling around the New Jersey-New York-Pennsylvania tri-state area.

Before they could take the floor on Saturday night to take on J-Kidd’s former team, Jason’s Mavericks teammates learned the hazards of it.

No. 2 and the Mavs were forced to take the long route to get to New Jersey on Saturday night in time to face the Nets. But while the trip was a pain, it was worth it as the Mavs pulled out the last-second victory, 87-86.

For Jason making the trip to New Jersey, where he once led the Nets to consecutive NBA Finals appearances and spent almost half of his career, is always special, as he told the AP:

"It’s a great state. No. 1, Jersey is great," Kidd said. "It’s close to the city, great restaurants, great people, great fans. The unfortunate thing is they do have the turnpike from the airport, which is what people pretty much get to see. They don’t get to see (the state)."

But thanks to a day of travel, his teammates got to see more of the Garden State than they had planned. Eddie Sefko of the Dallas Morning News, described the travel issues Dallas faced:

"But so far their travel day from Chicago to Newark has produced some interesting side trips.

As I compose this message, the Mavericks’ team bus is motoring along the New Jersey Turnpike at about Exit 4. For those of you who don’t know your New Jersey geography, that’s nowhere near Newark. It’s just outside Camden, N.J.

Even when you have the first-class charter plane and all the luxuries that go with it, you still can’t fight with Mother Nature.

The Mavericks’ flight from Chicago to Newark today couldn’t go because of weather concerns in Newark.

So the flight went to Philadelphia, after which a bus ride of something close to two hours was waiting for the traveling party.

So much for an easy travel day. What was supposed to be a 90-minute flight ended up being that, plus a two-hour bus ride. And that came after things were running about 30 minutes late getting out of Chicago."

Once the Mavericks finally did arrive in Newark, for Jason’s first appearance at the Nets’ new arena, the Prudential Center, they locked in a tight, wire-to-wire battle with New Jersey.

Each team led by at least seven, but neither team led by more than nine. After one, the Nets led, but Dallas seized the lead at halftime. After three, the score was deadlocked, but even though the Nets took a late lead, the Mavs roared back to finish with a one-point win.

Jason showed up all over the stat sheet and finished with five points, eight assists, five rebounds and three steals. But it was his defense, after the Mavs took a late lead, which made the biggest difference.

After Dirk Nowitzki scored to give the Mavs an 87-86 lead, the Nets called a timeout and had once chance to win the game with six seconds left.

The ball went to point guard Devin Harris who tried to lose Jason and get off the last shot, but J-Kidd locked in on Harris and never gave him an inch, instead forcing him to pass off to Jordan Farmar. Farmar launched a long three at the buzzer that fell short, securing a Dallas victory. Mavs center Tyson Chandler credited J-Kidd’s effort on the final play:

"That put us over the hump," Chandler said. "Jason Kidd did an excellent job of denying . . . I think that kind of took them out of the play that they really wanted to run."

He was integral at the end, but Jason also got the Mavs off to a quick start by hooking up early and often with Chandler.

No. 2 found his center three different times in the first quarter as Chandler scored 10 of the Mavs’ first 20 points. No. 2 also finished the first quarter with three points—off a triple that he hit at the eight-minute mark of the first—to allow Dallas to keep pace with New Jersey and trail by just four points, 26-22, at the end of one period.

After getting a short rest and re-entering the game midway through the second, No. 2 promptly found an open Jason Terry, who buried a three that edged the Mavs to within four with just under six minutes remaining in the first half. Then, over the final 2:52 of the half, the Mavs defense took over, holding New Jersey scoreless while the offense went on an 11-0 run to take a 48-45 halftime lead.

It was in the third, during a 9-2 Dallas run, that J-Kidd and TC got together for the play of the game, as Jeff Caplan of ESPN Dallas described it:

"Play of the game: Nowitzki’s shot won it, but this one was made for the highlight reel: On the possession after DeShawn Stevenson converted a four-point play to break a 49-49 tie, Jason Kidd wound up with the ball in the right corner. He made a move under the defender and lofted the ball just high enough for Chandler to grab it out of the air and throw it down with two-handed authority, one of several alley-oop slams he had in the game."

The game ebbed and flowed from that point until Nowitzki’s jumper with six seconds left gave Dallas the win.

THREE PARTY
Jason and the Mavericks welcomed a new teammate to the fold on Monday as Dallas signed forward Peja Stojakovic to a contract after Stojakovic was bought out of his deal with the Toronto Raptors.

Stojakovic is one of the league’s best three-point shooters and sports a 40-percent mark for his career from long range. Earlier this season, J-Kidd passed Stojakovic for fourth most three-pointers made all-time. Jason now sits third on the list and Stojakovic is fifth, 14 behind Jason. With two more threes, Stojakovic will pass Dale Ellis for fourth all-time.

J-Kidd is looking forward to Stojakovic joining the team:

"We’re happy…we can have the opportunity to play with a guy that can flat out shoot the ball," he told Mavs Moneyball. "When (Stojakovic) is on the court and you leave him wide open, you can count it."

Jason even went as far as to say, Peja might be the best foreign shooter on the team, though a certain German scorer might have something to say about that, as he joked to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram:

"He might be our best foreign shooter on this team," point guard Jason Kidd said, jokingly. "Dirk

[Nowitzki] might not agree with that, but he might also agree with it. But it’s good to have a guy who’s been in this league and has been in some battles."

NEXT UP
Jason and the Mavs are back home from their eventful two-game road trip and welcome the Los Angeles Clippers to Dallas on Tuesday.

"We have a young and very talented team coming in tomorrow night so we have our hands full," No. 2 told Dallas Basketball at Mavs practice on Monday.

In their first meeting this season, Jason came close to a triple double with 13 points, nine rebounds and seven assists in a 99-83 Mavs victory in LA.

Tuesday’s tip-off is set for 7:30 p.m. CST and the game will be televised locally of Fox Sports Southwest.

To watch Jason talk more about the big matchup, courtesy of Dallas Basketball, click here.

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