DALLAS --When the Dallas Mavericks were at the their best in the final two months of the season, Jason Kidd served not only as a superb facilitator, but as a scorer. Having averaged better than 12 points a game since the All-Star break, Kidd's best scoring stretch in his two-plus seasons in Dallas, the Mavs' scoring average jumped by two full points.

In Game 1, Kidd contributed 13 points to go along with 11 assists and the Mavs won, scoring 100 points. In Game 2, Kidd finished with five points on 1-of-7 shooting, and eight assists, and the Mavs lost, scoring just 88 points. He was 0-of-4 as the Mavs trailed by 12 at halftime. Kidd was outplayed by dashing San Antonio Spurs point guard Tony Parker, who, of course, is now coming off the bench.

Parker had 16 points and eight assists in seven fewer minutes than Kidd in Game 2 and has outscored Kidd in the two games 34-18, a discrepancy that has to be made up at another position. Kidd's low point total becomes even more magnified when Spurs forward Richard Jefferson (19 points in Game 2) steps up to nearly equal the combined scoring of the Mavs swingmen, Caron Butler (17 points), and Shawn Marion (six points).

Kidd is 6-of-19 from the field in the first two games, but he has retained his 40-percent clip from beyond the 3-point arc (4-of-10, although just 1-of-4 in Game 2), which leaves him just 2-of-9 inside the arc.