DALLAS — On Wednesday, his 49th birthday, coach Jason Kidd got sweet cards from his kids, drove them to school, and at the Mavericks’ morning shoot-around he was serenaded by his players and assistant coaches.
And on Wednesday night in American Airlines the Mavericks gifted first-year coach Kidd with a 110-91 rout of Houston behind 28 points from Jalen Brunson and 26 by Spencer Dinwiddie.
As presents go, a home win over the team with the NBA’s worst record (18-55) hardly qualifies as indelible, but the fact that it came on a night on a night when Luka Doncic rested and both Utah and Minnesota lost made No. 49 a quality birthday for Kidd.
“Yeah, we’ll take it,” Kidd said before rushing off the grab birthday dinner with his family. “Maybe I need a birthday more often.”
Then he briefly turned serious.
“No, we’re not scoreboard watching too early. We’ve got to take care of ourselves. If we can do that, we’ll accomplish one goal, and that’s to make it to the playoffs. We can’t dictate who we’re going to play. We’ve got to worry about ourselves.”
Dallas’ win and Utah’s loss at Boston gave the Mavericks an identical record as the Jazz (45-28) for fourth place in the Western Conference, although the Jazz currently own the tie-breaker with nine games remaining for both teams.
Utah has won two of three meetings against Dallas. Even if the Mavericks beat the Jazz on Sunday in American Airlines Center, Utah would maintain the tie-breaker if it holds on to its Northwest Division lead. After head-to-head, the second tie-breaker goes to a team that wins its division.
Minnesota’s loss to Phoenix on Wednesday dropped the seventh-place Timberwolves four games in the loss column behind the Mavericks, so no matter what happens when the teams play Friday in Minneapolis it’s highly unlikely that Dallas slips behind the Timberwolves, especially since Dallas owns the tie-breaker.
A lot of basketball remains to be played and there’s time to pass the Jazz – especially considering the hot Mavericks now have won 10 of their last 13; 16 of their last 21; and 29 of their last 39 games.
Birthday present? If we’re being honest, Kidd got an early present back on Feb. 10, when the Mavericks acquired Dinwiddie and Davis Bertans from Washington for Kristaps Porzingis. That move made nights like Wednesday possible, when Kidd could rest Doncic without much concern.
“It’s big,” Kidd said. “It just shows the depth to be able to start Spencer, or have him come off the bench when we’re healthy. But when one is out, to be able to start him and kind have the same game plan, as if Luka is still playing, as a coach that makes my job a little bit easier.”
Dinwiddie scored 19 of his points in the first half, then Brunson took over the scoring with 16 points in the third quarter alone.
Kidd and Brunson said the Mavericks were stirred by a halftime pep talk from Dorian Finney-Smith, ordinarily a man of few words, who stood and reminded his teammates of their season-long commitment to be accountable to one another.
Certainly, Kidd’s team will reach 50 before he does. Wins, that is. All Dallas has to do is finish 5-4 or better to clinch its first 50-win season since 2014-15 and only its second since the 2010-11 championship season.
Houston, believe it or not, actually led 53-52 at halftime, but the Mavericks blew the game open by scoring 46 of the first 68 points in the second half.
This marks the first time Dallas has swept a season series (4-0) from Houston since 2011-12, Kidd’s last season as a Mavericks point guard. All of this season’s wins came by double-digits.
