Jason Kidd's Coaching Decisions Called Into Question After Mavericks' Game 3 Loss

Did some of Kidd's coaching decisions cost the Mavericks Game 3 and potentially a championship?

Jun 12, 2024; Dallas, Texas, USA; Dallas Mavericks head coach Jason Kidd looks on against the Boston Celtics during the first quarter during the first quarter of game three of the 2024 NBA Finals at American Airlines Center. Mandatory Credit: Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports / Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports

There were many reasons the Dallas Mavericks lost Game 3 on Wednesday night, between bad offensive stretches, Luka Doncic fouling out, and some questionable timeouts and rotation decisions. A lot of it comes down to the decision of Jason Kidd and if he gave his team the best chance of winning.

So let's analyze two of those decisions.

In the second half, Kidd optioned to play Tim Hardaway Jr. over Derrick Jones Jr., who was struggling to get any shots off in this series. Jones had just 2 points and two shot attempts in Game 3, bringing his total for the series to 18 points on 18 shot attempts.

READ MORE: Luka Doncic Calls Out Officiating After Fouling Out In Game 3 of NBA Finals

Inserting Hardaway, who averaged 14.4 PPG in the regular season, makes sense in theory. Until you realize Hardaway has been unplayable for most of the playoffs, appearing in just 12 of Dallas' 20 games thus far, averaging 13.1 MPG. Wednesday night's 19 minutes are the second most he's played in these playoffs behind Game 4 against Oklahoma City, another loss for the Mavs.

Hardaway also hasn't made a shot since Game 6 against OKC, which was 26 days ago. Since then, he's been a healthy scratch in four of the eight games since the OKC series and has shot 0/8 in the other four games. When looking at the entirety of this playoff run, Hardaway is averaging just 3.8 PPG on 34% shooting from the floor. If you remove his explosion in Game 2 against OKC, those numbers dip to 2.6 PPG on 27.5% shooting. He hasn't been a positive for the majority of these playoffs.

So to turn to Hardaway in a must-win game is a curious decision, to say the least. In Hardaway's 19 minutes, the Mavericks were -16. In the other 29 minutes, Dallas was +9 over the Celtics. You could here the audible groans from the crowd any time he entered the game and some jeers when he missed shots. There's a reason he's been unplayable for most of these playoffs, but it's hard to know who to turn to in those situations. The Mavericks needed offense and he's been able to do that over his career, but playing another ball-handler like Dante Exum or Jaden Hardy may have been a better option to turn to.

The other major questionable decision was a timeout with 5:25 remaining in the game. Dallas was on a 20-2 run to get themselves within three points towards the end of the game as Kidd called a timeout. He was asked about this decision in his postgame press conference.

His answer: "Which timeout?" He sort of expanded on it later after clarification by the media by saying "We missed the three, and we missed [Kyrie Irving]'s pull-up, and it's a one-possession game. So that's why we called the timeout. We exerted a lot of energy on the defensive end and offensive end, so that's why we called the timeout."

The timeout referred to in the press conference is actually incorrect. Kidd called the timeout before those two plays happened. Irving had hit three free throws to cut the lead to three, Luka Doncic stole the ball on the other end which led to a missed P.J. Washington three, and then Jrue Holiday badly missed a three for Boston. Dereck Lively II secured the rebound and Kidd called the timeout.

In the moment, I didn't hate the timeout. Being at the game, it felt like the game was starting to be too loose, but in hindsight, it didn't help anything. In the first possession after the timeout, Doncic missed a three, then picked up his fifth foul, Al Horford missed a three, then Irving missed the mid-range pull-up after that. Kidd called a timeout after this sequence to challenge Doncic's sixth foul, which was unsuccessful.

It's tough to kill momentum like that. Yes, the team was likely tired from that long run and over-exerting themselves on offense and defense, but Boston was also exhausted from that run and it's imperative to take advantage of those whenever those opportunities arise. When you combine this timeout with the challenge just over a minute later, the Celtics were able to recover a lot of energy and put the game out of reach down the stretch as Irving tried to put the Mavs on his back.

Timeouts should also mainly be used to kill runs early or if a game gets too out of control, settle the guys down. But the Mavs were on such a huge run with all of the momentum, it's really hard to defend that timeout now.

There were other smaller things, like using 11 players in Game 3 of the NBA Finals; at this point in the season, Kidd should know who he can rely on and who he can't, but it was likely one of those that everyone outside of Doncic and Irving looked scared to shoot.

It may be too little, too late to make any major changes as the Mavs are on the verge of being swept with the Celtics holding the Larry O'Brien trophy in Dallas, but they're not just going to roll over and admit defeat. Irving and Doncic have too much pride for that.

The Mavs will attempt the improbable comeback in Game 4 on Friday at 7:30 p.m. CST.

READ MORE: Luka Doncic, Kyrie Irving Says Mavericks' NBA Finals 'Not Over' Amid 3-0 Deficit

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