Jason Kidd has done a lot of things for the Dallas Mavericks franchise, but winning 50 games a season appears to be his niche.
During Jason’s second stint as a player with Dallas, the Mavs were a perennial 50-game winner. Following his departure, they accomplished it just once in nine seasons. In his three seasons as coach, they’ve now achieved that lofty goal twice.
The Mavericks clinched the 16th 50-win season in franchise history and their fifth Southwest Division title on Wednesday with a 111-92 win over the Heat in Miami.
“We can check the box on one goal, and being able to achieve that,” Jason said. “It’s a special situation. From where we started, and then you look at the trade deadline, to make a change. Sometimes changes take a little bit longer. And then understanding the Western Conference…to achieve 50 wins, here in the last three years, two out of the three we’ve done that. We’re building something and now it’s just a matter of being healthy and continuing to work on our habits.”
All five members of the Mavs starting group finished in double figures on the scoreboard, led by 29 points from Luka Doncic and 25 from Kyrie Irving.
“On a back-to-back, I thought the offense was at a high level. We came out, we were aggressive,” Jason said. “The ball was moving. When [a lot of] guys are getting shots, make or miss, everyone’s happy. It’s a great thing to see.”
P.J. Washington, Derrick Jones Jr. and Daniel Gafford each added 12 points, but after the game Coach Kidd was raving about their defense, as that trio combined for six blocks, and helped hold Miami to their sixth-lowest scoring total of the season.
“To be able to hold a NBA team like the Heat under 100 points, just shows where our defense is right now,” Coach Kidd said. “We know they like to drive middle and if you let them get middle, they’re going to pick you apart. They’ll find their shooters. We were trying to keep some of those guys off the three-point line…We’re big and we’re experienced in using our length. Tonight, at the rim we got a lot of blocked shots from a lot of different guys. It wasn’t just Gafford, it was D. Jones, it was P.J., being able to cover up and help one another.”
Wednesday’s victory locks Dallas into either the 4th or 5th spot in the West. They’ll face the Los Angeles Clippers in the 4-5 series. All that’s left to determine with two games remaining in the regular season is who will host more games as the higher seed. The Clippers currently hold a one-game edge and finish the season with home games Friday against Utah and Sunday against Houston. The Mavs host Detroit on Friday and head to Oklahoma to wrap the regular season on Sunday.
The first round playoff series between Dallas and LA will start either Saturday, April 19th or Sunday, April 20th in Dallas or Los Angeles, meaning the Mavs could have up to a week of down time following their game at OKC. Jason said striking the proper balance between rest and rust will be key.
“It’s good to get some rest but also sometimes you want to keep playing because of the rhythm and where we are as a team,” Jason said. “I think we’ve passed a lot of tests. The next test will be harder.”
Tip-off of Friday’s game against the Pistons is scheduled for 7:30 pm CT and the game can be seen on WFAA. Sunday’s game against the Thunder begins at 2:30 p.m. CT and will be broadcast on Bally Sports Southwest.
“Before we get to the Clippers, we just have to keep working on our habits, understanding where our chemistry is at, and the trust, and continuing to keep making that stronger,” J-Kidd said. “There’s a lot of pieces to this puzzle that makes this thing go, very similar to that 2011 team when you talk about Dirk and Jason Terry, [we] had a lot of older guys who didn’t get the attention but knew their job and did their job at a high level. It was just all about winning and I think when you talk to these guys, it’s all about winning. It’s all about the team, and they care for one another.”