Up next on the Coach Kidd countdown: A big birthday present on the road against one of Jason’s old teams: the Dallas Mavericks.
No. 3: March 23, 2014 — Brooklyn Celebrates J-Kidd’s B-Day With Win
Dallas holds a special place in Jason Kidd’s heart. It’s where his NBA career began, and it’s the place where he captured his first and only NBA title as a member of the 2010-11 Mavericks.
So, it was only fitting that J-Kidd’s first trip to Dallas as head coach of the Brooklyn Nets on March 23rd was momentous as well. Brooklyn edged out the Mavs in the most thrilling of fashions, earning a 107-104 overtime win on Kidd’s 42nd birthday.
In a true team effort, Joe Johnson led the squad with 22 points, Marcus Thornton added 20 points off the bench and Deron Williams and Paul Pierce each contributed 15 points of their own in the win.
“One word: grit,” Pierce said in regards to the victory. “It’s one of those gritty games right there. Most of the game, things didn’t really go our way. We really didn’t get a lot of calls, but the guys stuck in there and grinded it out. We really grew as a team, getting a win on the road in a hostile environment, being down most of the game. We’re just starting to show the true character of this ballclub.”
The outset of the game wasn’t as celebratory as its conclusion. Brooklyn couldn’t get anything going offensively early and found themselves in a double-digit hole after shooting just 5-of-20 from the field in the first six-plus minutes of the first quarter. By the end of the first, Dallas held a 29-15 lead.
But the Nets found their offensive groove in the second quarter, shooting a vastly improved 47.4 percent from the field while bucking down defensively and holding the Mavs to 33.3 percent shooting. Thornton got things started when he nailed a long three-pointer, grabbed a defensive rebound, and then sank a layup while drawing a foul, all on consecutive plays to bring the deficit back down to single digits.
The game yo-yoed from there. Dallas extended its lead back to 12 at one point, but Brooklyn, paced by Mirza Teletovic, Pierce and Williams, fought back to make it 42-39 with 1:22 left in the half. However, free throws from Dirk Nowitzki and Monta Ellis and a driving jumper from Brandan Wright in the final minute of the quarter sent the teams to the locker rooms with the score 48-41 in favor of the Mavs. Teletovic’s nine points topped the Nets while Williams was close behind with eight, and Dallas’ Devin Harris had nine points to lead his squad.
Things did not look promising for Coach Kidd’s squad to start the third, as Dallas was quick to open up a 14-point lead. However, following the cool and calm mentality of their coach, the Brooklyn players never panicked and battled to keep the home team within reach. The Nets scored the last six points of the frame to make it 72-65 heading into the final quarter of regulation.
Continuing his strong offensive showing, Thornton drilled two straight 3-pointers to open up the fourth and pull Brooklyn within one. Less than a minute later, a pair of Deron Williams free throws gave Brooklyn its first lead since early in the first quarter. The teams then traded basket after basket, always having an answer for a shot from the other.
With Dallas up by four with under 44 seconds to go, Kidd took a 20-second timeout and put Pierce back into the game, a decision that paid off immensely. On the very next play, Pierce drew contact and made his way to the free throw line where he cut the deficit in half. After corralling a missed Nowitzki shot with only 22.8 seconds left in regulation, the Nets put the ball in the hands of Joe Johnson, who, with ice in his veins, was able to sink a driving layup to tie up the score at 91. Dallas couldn’t convert on its final shot attempt and the game was sent to overtime.
“We love giving the ball to Joe,” J-Kidd said of the play. “Joe has been doing that for us all season. That’s why he’s an All-Star and one of the best at what he does.”
Brooklyn carried the momentum from the fourth quarter into the extra period, gunning out to 103-95 lead with 1:26 remaining, a stretch highlighted by a trey from Williams.
However, the Mavs did not go down quietly and went on a 9-2 run, capped off by a Monta Ellis pull-up trey, to make it a one-point ballgame yet again with 5.9 seconds remaining. Dallas fouled Pierce on the ensuing inbounds play, and he converted both free throws to ice the game for the Nets, as the Mavs were unable to get an open look from deep to end the game.
“Everybody who participated fought with energy and effort,” Coach Kidd said. “We got off to a slow start. We were kind of forcing the ball. We were kind of going for the home run pass instead of doing what we have in the past and that’s just making the easy play. But again: trust and composure. Guys stayed the course and kept fighting.”
Johnson also spoke after the game about the importance of the win.
“It was huge,” Johnson said. “For (Jason), not only just his birthday, but him coming back to Dallas. D-Will coming back home to Dallas, that’s big, man. That means a lot to those guys, so I was happy to pull it out.”
The victory was a sweet one that was instrumental to the turnaround of the Nets from cellar-dwellers to playoff contenders. No one was more certain of the rookie head coach’s involvement in the team’s success than Nets General Manager Billy King.
“The biggest thing (to the turnaround) I think is with Jason,” King said. “Now we have a system of how we’re going to play, an identity. We have a system, and I think a lot of the credit is players playing well, but Jason has been amazing.”
