MEMPHIS -- Jason Kidd hasn't struggled like this with his 3-ball since the 2000-01 season in Phoenix when his scoring wasn't predicated on how many 3-pointers he canned.

But that's his game now, in terms of scoring points. And when he nails two or three a game, Kidd can be a very dangerous weapon, as he's showed over the last few seasons, shooting it better than 40 percent his first two seasons back with Dallas and 37 percent during the championship run.

This season, 114 of his 133 shot attempts are from beyond the arc, so when he's not hitting it, he's not scoring. Kidd was nearly the hero Tuesday night when he dropped his first 3-pointer for the lead with 48.9 seconds to play. But he couldn't get either of last two attempts to go and Dallas lost to the Nets by one. Kidd finished 1-of-7 shooting, with every attempt coming from beyond the arc.

"The one I missed in the corner there I thought I made it," Kidd said. "The one I took to take the lead, that one felt good. All of them felt good."

They're just not dropping.

Kidd has made just 33 of his 114 attempts. That's 28.9 percent. On Feb. 15, Kidd hit 4-of-6 for 13 points in the route of Denver, but in the five games since he's 8-of-31 ( 25.8 percent) and is averaging 6.2 points.

Mavs coach Rick Carlisle pulled out several different reasons why Kidd's percentage has been scrapping bottom, everything from late shot-clock heaves to reduced minutes this season.

"I've watched every single minute that he's played," Carlisle said. "He's gotten the ball late shot-clock so many times, if you took away those possessions or ones where he heaves it up at the end of the quarter and things like that, he's shooting a much better percentage than what it is in the stats. My encouragement to the whole team, especially in this season, is stats are meaningless."

Perhaps, but even in those reduced minutes, nearly four less on average than last season, Kidd is averaging 4.5 3-point attempts a game, down just a tick from last season (4.9).