The Dallas Mavericks often use the experience of their floor general, Jason Kidd, to guide them in a time of need.

Faced with the prospect of their first back-to-back losses since mid-January, the Mavs turned to J-Kidd on Monday night. It shouldn’t surprise anyone at this point that he went ahead and led them to victory.

No. 2 made the crucial plays down the stretch to get Dallas back into the win column with a 108-105 win over the Minnesota Timberwolves.

After moving into sole possession of third place on the all-time steals list on Sunday, Jason began his climb toward second on the list with four steals Monday night. The most essential of those came with just under two minutes remaining in regulation and the Mavericks clinging to a one-point lead.

Off No. 2’s steal, the Mavs cashed in with a Jason Terry three-pointer to push their lead to four, 101-97. J-Kidd added two free throws with a minute left to help seal the deal.

Led through a perilous evening by their calm, cool and collected leader, Dallas never showed any signs of worry or panic.

"We don’t panic, we’ve seen it all — being up one or being down two or three with a minute left," Kidd said. "

[Terry] probably didn’t have the best night. He’s been playing extremely well, he’s been off the charts. So, he had a down night, but it was up to him or Dirk to make a big shot and they did that tonight."

Jason had a solid night of his own. The future hall-of-famer added 13 points, nine assists and two rebounds to go along with his four steals. He and Nowitzki were the only starters to reach double-digit scoring figures.

Dallas fell behind early as Minnesota jumped out on a 7-2 run to start the game. But Jason helped the Mavs keep their composure. He capped an 8-2 run for Dallas with a dish to Roddy Beaubois for a layup. With a little more than seven minutes remaining in the quarter the Mavs regained the lead 10-9.

But Minnesota kept coming and by the eight-minute mark of the second quarter, Dallas trailed by 11 points, 37-26. J-Kidd re-entered the game with five minutes remaining and immediately got to work on cutting the deficit again.

He nailed a free throw, then hit a 15-foot jumper just below the elbow to pull the Mavs to within four, 39-35.

After finding Beaubois for a short jumper, No. 2 nailed back-to-back triples—the first from the left wing and the second from straightaway center—to pull Dallas within three.

Minnesota clung to its lead, but the Mavericks were just heating up their three-point barrage. With 54 seconds left, J-Kidd dished to Brian Cardinal, who buried another trey to bring the deficit to one.

Jason told Earl K. Snead of Mavs Fastbreak that he was especially proud of Cardinal, who filled in with great success while Dirk Nowitzki was on the bench in foul trouble.

"He was huge for us, he won the ballgame," No. 2 said. "He changed the whole rhythm offensively and defensively for us. He gave us a spark and that’s what we’ve done. There’s always been somebody to come off the bench and give us life, especially on a back-to-back after a tough loss last night at home. So, he was huge. He got going there and had a couple of heat-checks, but that’s the beauty of the game. When you get going like that, you cheer your teammate on and he stepped up big."

So did J-Kidd. In the final five minutes of the half Jason scored six points and had a hand in 17 of the Mavs’ 19 points during that span. Thanks to his efforts, Dallas trimmed a double-digit deficit to just two at halftime, 50-48.

Twenty seconds into the third, J-Kidd found Nowitzki to tie the game at 50. Moments later, the point guard nailed a jumper of his own to give the Mavs a 54-50 advantage. Minnesota went on a 15-0 run to regain the lead by 10 points, but the Mavs poured in 35 points in the final period to pull away with the win.

It was yet another solid performance for the Dallas offense, which was once again featured on the Hot List at Mavs Moneyball:

"The Mavs’ offense, on fire for several weeks now, is showing no signs of slowing down. This week’s point totals: 101 against Philly, 116 against Indiana, 103 against Memphis. The shooting numbers: 53%, 52%, 51%. Team assists: 26, 28, 21. Turnovers were a moderate blemish (15 in each of the three games), but the Mavs are moving the ball very well, finding their spots, and shooting efficiently. Some bad moments (e.g., horrible turnovers against Memphis) aside, this is a beautiful offensive machine presently."

NEXT UP
Dallas brings its offensive machine to New Orleans on Wednesday night to take on the team they’d face in the playoffs if the regular season ended today.

The game starts a tough week of opponents as ESPN Dallas’ Jeff Caplan explains:

"What it means: The Mavs have won 19 of 21 and start a new streak after their eight-game streak was busted up Sunday by Memphis. The Mavs now play three games in five nights: at New Orleans (Wednesday), then back home for the new-look New York Knicks (Thursday) and the Los Angeles Lakers (Saturday). The win kept the Mavs two games ahead of L.A. in the loss column."

The Mavericks split a home and home with the Hornets back in November. In the first game of the pair, Dallas handed New Orleans its first loss of the season on November 15th. Jason averaged 13.5 points, seven assists and six rebounds in the split.

Wednesday’s tip-off is set for 7 p.m. CST and the game can be seen locally on Fox Sports Southwest.

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