Jason Kidd on Mavs collapse: 'We play no defense when we can't score' / News - Basketnews.com

Credit: AFP - Scanpix Credit AFP - Scanpix

The Dallas Mavericks held a 19-point lead against the Golden State Warriors in the second quarter of Game 2 of the NBA Western Conference Final series but ultimately lost the game.

Player of the Game EFF 30 Kevon Looney Points 21 Accuracy 10-14 Rebounds 12 Assists 2

Looking back after the match, Mavericks head coach Jason Kidd thought it was a great learning experience for the young team playing against the championship-caliber Warriors.

"We got great looks but we have to do better, we have to understand when we shoot three or four threes in a row and miss, you have to get to the rim, you have to get the ball into the paint, you have to get to the free-throw line," Kidd explained. "That's just understanding the situation, learning, and maybe it is experience."

"We play defense when we play offense and we play no defense when we can't score. That's something that we have to get better at this time of the year," the coach told after the game. "You can get away with it in the regular season but just understanding the defensive principles, we just have to do better."

"When we looked after Game 1, we looked a lot better with the physicality of the game, being able to make shots, there in the first half we made shots putting ourselves into position, and then we got those same shots in the third," Kidd continued. "When you go 2-for-13 and you rely on the three, you can die by the three, and we died in the third quarter by shooting that many threes and coming up with only two."

"You don't have so many timeouts, I can't burn all of them in the third," the coach answered when asked about calling timeouts to stop the run. "Just so you understand, we've gone through runs, it is a team about runs and also this is a great learning experience for a young team to understand what it means to stop the run."

"You can't ask the coach to always call a timeout, and we believe in one another to be able to execute on the offensive end and get a stop, get a basket and get a stop. We took timeouts but sometimes you have to get the ball in the basket to stop the run," Kidd finished his statement.

The Warriors lead 2-0 in the series. Game 3 is scheduled to take place Sunday night in Dallas.

Full Jason Kidd's press conference:

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