Before even playing a home game, Jason Kidd and the Dallas Mavericks are halfway there.

With a stellar first half, some excellent defense down the stretch and a late-game dagger three, Jason helped the Mavs to a 93-81 win over the Los Angeles Lakers on Wednesday night in Game 2 of the Western Conference Quarterfinals.

With the victory, the Mavericks took a 2-0 lead as the series heads back to Dallas for Game 3 on Friday night.


J-Kidd and the Mavs have done an excellent job on the Lakers to take a 2-0 lead back to Dallas (Getty Images).

Jeff Caplan of ESPN Dallas wrote about No. 2’s outstanding play:

"Kidd had a terrific first half. He was guarded by Kobe Bryant and he kept Bryant on his toes with five points and four assists. Bryant was also guarded by Kidd for much of the quarter and finished with six points on 2-0f-4 shooting, but Kidd stayed on him and forced tough shots."

After the game, J-Kidd explained the difference between this year’s Mavs club and those before it.

"The only thing that may be different throughout the season is that we’re playing defense."

Defense indeed. Through eight games, Dallas has yet to allow an opponent to score 100 points this postseason. On Wednesday night, the Mavs held the Lakers to just 2-of-20 from beyond the arc. They racked up four steals and four blocks, forcing a total of 10 turnovers. Caplan put the dominance of the Dallas defense into perspective:

"Unfathomable? Perhaps, but facts are facts. The Game 2 victory marked the eighth consecutive playoff game that the Mavs have not allowed more than 97 points. Five times they’ve given up less than 90 and four times now fewer than 85. It was one thing against the low-possession Trail Blazers, who lacked outside shooting and inside punch from anyone not named LaMarcus Aldridge.

But against the Los Angeles Lakers? Showtime with Bryant and Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum and Lamar Odom? Those guys, for heaven’s sake?

"We play defense now," Mavs forward Shawn Marion said rather frankly as if to suggest doubt-us-if-you-dare. "We’re able to key on certain guys and help when we need to. They are a talented team, they’re the defending champions and they’re going to hit some shots. You’ve got to stay out there and make them keep taking contested jumpers. When they’re hitting them, more power to them. When they’re missing those shots, they get heavier as the game goes on."

Jason said the key to the Game 2 win was the Mavericks staying within themselves on both sides of the ball. They didn’t press or force anything, rather, they exerted their will on the Lakers and got LA to fold.

"We kept our composure, our patience and playing defense is going to win games at this time of the year," Kidd said. "Right now, that’s been our focal point. There for a stretch it was 68-62

[Mavs] and we couldn’t make a shot. But, defensively, we held serve in the sense of they couldn’t score. Once we got off 68, we started to score and continued to play defense."

According to J-Kidd, the Mavs learned a valuable lesson about their defense in Game 4 of their first round playoff series with the Portland Trail Blazers.

"In Game 4, we let one guy beat us. We play team defense. That’s our strength," No. 2 told TNT after Wednesday’s Game 2 win. "We’re not a team that can just guard one-on-one. We’re a little bit older, so we rely on each other to help out. That was a great learning experience for the whole team to understand that we can’t just let one guy guard, we have to help as a team."

The team method has worked wonders. The 81 points scored by the Lakers was their lowest point output of this postseason and fourth lowest of the year. Along with another night of strong defense, J-Kidd poured in 10 points with six dimes, two rebounds and a steal.

NOT YET CONTENT
Prior to the game, J-Kidd, ever the veteran leader, made sure that his team wouldn’t be satisfied with just one victory in the Lakers house, as Dwain Price of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram wrote:

"I think being a veteran ballclub — understanding that Game 1 is over — there’s nothing you can do now but play Game 2 and find a way to win," Kidd said. "And again, give ourselves a chance with six minutes left to see if we can get a win on the road."

Kidd said the Mavs veterans will make sure the young players are not satisfied with winning the series opener. They have the Lakers down and questioning themselves, and they want to keep things that way."

Jason told Mike Fisher of Dallas Basketball that to accomplish their goals and avoid complacency, the Mavs were treating Game 2 as if they were the team in the must-win spot:

"You got to think the opposite, that you’re down one and you need to win Game 2," he said. "That’s the way we’ve got to come out."

The best way for No. 2 to show his teammates that Game 2 was equally important was to get them rolling right out of the gate. So J-Kidd drained the first bucket of the game for his team and, as the period progressed, made clear that he was just getting started.

During a five-minute span early in the first, the veteran point guard dished to Tyson Chandler for an alley-oop slam, then DeShawn Stevenson for treys on consecutive trips. Moments later, Jason hit a triple of his own from the left wing and then assisted Shawn Marion on a dunk to give the Mavs a 17-14 lead.

By the end of the first, with J-Kidd commanding the offense all over the court, the Mavs had taken a 26-20 lead into the second quarter. At half, Dallas had yet to allow a three-pointer and led 51-49. They wouldn’t relinquish that edge.

The Lakers crawled back within one early in the third, but Jason dished to Dirk Nowitzki for a three that made the Dallas advantage 60-56 with just over five minutes remaining in the quarter. With a minute remaining in the third, J-Kidd found Peja Stojakovic for a short runner. The Mavs took that six-point advantage into the final frame.

At the start of the fourth, Jason made sure his teammates remained aggressive and mindful that no lead is safe until the final buzzer sounds:

"It’s a 48 minute game," he said. "With the guys like Kobe and the players they have, they can score in a hurry. So for us, we were up 13 or 14 and we couldn’t stop playing. We had to get stops, but on the other hand we had to keep trying to score the ball."

It was No. 2 who would launch the knockout blow at the five-minute mark of the fourth. After he received a pass from center Brendan Haywood, Jason took his time, lined up and drilled his second triple of the game, from almost the same spot as the first. It was the Mavs’ 82nd point of the night and from there Dallas cruised to their second straight win at the Staples Center.

Taking the first two games of the seven-game series at the Lakers’ home court bodes well for Dallas’ chances of winning the series according to Tim MacMahon of ESPN Dallas:

"The Mavs have complete control and extreme confidence as the series heads to Dallas. Teams that win the first two games on the road have won 15 of 18 series in NBA history. (The 2005 Mavs are the last team to go down 0-2 at home and win the series, beating the Rockets in seven games.)"

NEXT UP
The Mavs and Lakers now travel to Dallas for a Game 3 showdown at American Airlines Center on Friday night. Tip-off is scheduled for 8:30 p.m. CT and the game will be televised nationally on ESPN.

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