NBA WESTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: MAVERICKS VS. WARRIORS

May 22, 2022

Jason Kidd

Dallas Mavericks

Game 3: Pregame

Q. I wanted to ask you about Luka and the way he runs the offense for you guys. Obviously in Game 1, especially in Game 2, you guys had an emphasis of using Reggie as a screener. As a game progresses like Game 2 and the Warriors make defensive adjustments, how much are you in constant conversation with Luka about what you think is the right matchups to attack, and how much are you just trusting him to be the Picasso of the offense, the quarterback?

JASON KIDD: Yeah, he did a great job, I thought, in Game 2. I thought we talked about how he bounces back, and once he sees things, things tend to go his way. I don't know if he had 14 or 16 or 18 points there in the first, and then they changed the matchup, and he continued to dominate.

It's constant communication of what we see as coaches and teammates, and he does the rest.

There's a lot of trust with Luka and having the ball and him being the quarterback because he's seeing a lot at 23, and he absorbs, and we trust he's going to do the right thing.

Q. He got trusted in a playoff run or a season that ended up working out okay.

JASON KIDD: I would agree, yes.

Q. How much when you get home can the fans determine, help you guys win or lose, and what's your reaction to the players and everybody standing up?

JASON KIDD: Yeah, the first question is it's always good to be home. We were gone for, I think, eight days, and so to be home, we need the fans to stand and cheer as they have this whole playoff run.

Then the second part is it's the league's decision to fine, but we're not going to sit. We're going to cheer. If that's, I think a positive is that the bench can look at it as they're donating to a nice charity, which is rare. So that's cool, right, that money goes to a charity. So for standing, if we get fined, it goes to charity. So it's a positive. Someone wins.

Q. I think you said after the last fine you were going to talk to the league about what you could do on the bench. Did you do that, and what did they say?

JASON KIDD: I haven't talked to the league. I've got bigger things basketball related. That's not basketball related. That's just finding things that complain about.

We're not a complaining organization. You haven't heard us complain about when we lose. We don't complain if we win. We just play basketball. If you want to talk about the bench, you can talk about the bench. That's on you. We don't talk about the bench. You guys did the article on the bench and that's how we started getting fined, because you brought light to it. So you guys should be paying the fines. So there's the charity; it goes back to Tim.

So the media is at fault here.

But we don't complain, and that's the truth. We lose with class, and we win with class, and that's what we're about.

Q. The non-Luka minutes in Game 2 early helped you, but how do you manage -- I know he has a set time when he sits out unless he's in foul trouble. How do you navigate those minutes when he's not out there and then Golden State makes a run like they made in the second half of Game 2?

JASON KIDD: Yeah, well, we trust those guys that are on the floor when Luka is not on the floor to be a positive. We've had positive moments when Luka wasn't on the floor. But again, Golden State is going to make runs, and we have to absorb that and understand how to stop runs. It's not always shooting a three; you can get to the free-throw line.

I guess the other part is we can't be in a hurry, and I thought they kind of sped us up there trying to answer the call instead of just playing our style of basketball.

Understand that group that's out there, we trust that that group is going to be a positive with Spencer and J.B. They've done it all season for us, and we're not going to change.

Q. Reggie Bullock won the Social Justice Champion award today. What is the reaction from you and the organization?

JASON KIDD: I think that's huge for Reggie winning that award, which was cool. We had Kareem this morning speak to the team but also present the award to Reggie, which was 9:30 here, but it was 7:30 on the West Coast time, which was cool for Kareem to wake up that early to give Reggie the award.

Reggie had no idea that we were doing that this morning, so things can stay a secret in house.

But it was just a remarkable thing that our players are not just basketball players, but they are human, and they do have concerns, and I think Reggie is doing an incredible job with what he's doing off the court.

Q. What from the experience of being down 2-0 in the last series can help you this time around?

JASON KIDD: Well, we were just in the seat. Hopefully it can help us. The big thing is we're taking one game at a time. Game 3 is the only game we're focused on. We know we're down two, but it's just one game, and we've got to try to come out as we've always talked to and try to win that first possession. That's all we're focused on.