Mavs’ Jason Kidd Speaks After Win vs. Pelicans: Jan. 15, 2024

Mavs’ Jason Kidd Speaks After Win vs. Pelicans: Jan. 15, 2024

Jason it look like you guys intentionally fou Zion up two with about 17 seconds left is that the case and what was the reasoning on that play yeah that was the plan um one if you let him get going it’s it’s hard to foul him uh

Where he can get a continuation so um Maxi did the right thing and fouled and we believed if he made both we said we have the ball with I think 15 seconds left to win so it was um play the percentages here a little bit he missed

One and then the goal was that if he did miss both we have to come up with that rebound so um I thought the guys did a great job of executing late um on both ends defensively and offensively how do you describe what Tim and Kyrie did yeah

Back court um I think it’s the second time in franchise history that you know two guys scored 40 points last year Kai and Luka did it and uh this afternoon Timmy Timmy was huge for us Timmy was you know was he kept us in there he made

Some big shots but Kai was steady uh the whole afternoon he just took what they gave him uh again he’s been doing this on this home stand is he’s leading us and guys are following and he puts us in a position to win Jason what was your perspective on what Lively meant

Particularly The Comeback element in the fourth quarter with the offensive rebounds that he had yeah we we uh yeah we didn’t run him into the ground this afternoon but his offensive rebounds they give us second opportunities and then his defensive rebounds were huge for us which we missed in that first

Game um I thought late in the game he he came up with some great opportunities for us to get second or third opportunities at the basket um which we need it uh but just his presence on the floor the guys trust him um for his

First game back for a while I thought he did great and we missed him and we’re happy that he’s back Jason recently I I asked you about uh foul trouble with him and how he’s you know kind of avoided it some and you said you wouldn’t mind him

Playing with some more foul trouble and he did have a little bit of that today was today kind of an example that that you hope is a teaching point for him about how to be able to to stay on the floor in critical situations despite having some foul trouble yeah I think

It’s important to to get in those situations uh especially with you know no practice you know it’s just games and so you got to teach um from the games as I uh told a lot of those guys in the in there um this afternoon is to watch this

Game to know how to play with Kai um when we get Luca back when guys are top locked um just understanding what you can do and what you can get away with with limited uh practice time you know this is uh on the run and you’re trying

To show guys um as we travel tomorrow to La they won’t be a practice we we travel and then we got to suit it up and go again and so just understand our basketball IQ uh we got better this afternoon but we have to understand that

The top lock uh you know with Kai or Luca we’re going to see a lot of that but then the other three on the floor have to understand how to play it felt like that possession where light we the two offensive rebounds and Hardway finish it with three that completely

Swung momentum for you guys did it feel like that on your end too yeah I think you know we were just fighting and you know I was telling uh the guys on the bench we can just keep this a five-point game going into the fourth um because we

We try to figure out if we can get Kai out or not and if you get Kai out our offense kind of goes away so uh I thought that the two offensive rebounds just like um the the New York game being able to come up with extra shots late U

But I I also thought just sharing the ball understanding uh you know kai is patient Kai’s going to do what he does but the other guys Josh makes another big three in the corner for us and and so just the patience and the the guys that are growing up these young kids are

Growing up um under you know distress and so it’s it’s a beautiful thing to watch but you know it’s uh we got a long way ways to go but hopefully we can get healthy because then it becomes fun what do you think about what Hardway has been

Able to give you this season as a whole obviously Off the Bench most of the time and feeling in starting lineup recently yeah he’s The Substitute Teacher right now in the starting lineup he’s he’s being a pro about it you know he we’ve asked him to come off the bench we’ve

Asked him to start we’re ask him to guard Zion we’re asking him to guard everybody um and he’s just a pro and uh this afternoon was a perfect example that you know he took his shots he was aggressive um and so you know we need that no matter

If he’s starting or coming off the bench Jason in the course of your two weeks here at home you’ve had some exhilarating wins you’ve had some losses I’m sure that you look back and maybe lament a little bit when you when you look at this the balance of the whole

Segment of the season of two weeks at home is there any takeaway that you have from it yeah it was a hell of a home stand five and two you know that that’s that’s that’s a positive that’s big no matter who who you beat or who you lose

To when you protect home like that that’s that’s a good sign especially with the health that we have it’s you know whoever can play next man up and I and I thought we protected home as much as we can talk about games in the past but we can only learn from those we

Can’t change the wind lost column but you know to protect home the way we did you know we got to be proud of that you mentioned hope they get healthy soon any sense of uh optimism uh whether Luke can go on this road trip can play on the road

Can only hope the California Sun helps heal us I will see I have no I have no idea um but I hope everybody goes and hope hopefully everybody has come out of this game healthy um but hopefully the California seab Breeze makes everybody feel good and they can participate on

Wednesday U speaking of Health how did it feel to have both Maxi and diive back to battle with guys like Zion and JV yeah I think that’s that the other day we need to get a little bit bigger so that that was a nice thing to see you

Know to be able to have Maxi and dive out there together um to be able to bring ran in with dive or Maxi that’s a you know that’s another combo so um as we get healthy and we continue to keep playing um you know hopefully that we

Can continue to see those combos out there and that they can have a positive effect on the game thank you coach

Dallas Mavericks coach Jason Kidd spoke to reporters after the victory over the New Orleans Pelicans on Jan. 15, 2024.

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