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Mavs lose to another real team, and Gramps just ain't cuttin' it


Happy together? Maybe not for all that much longer.

By ED BARK
No one expected Jason Kidd to be a scoring machine.

But three points in two home games against elite NBA teams? On one for 11 shooting from the field? With just one trip to the foul line?

That's not even horrid. After beating up on the league's dregs, the Dallas Mavericks absorbed another deflating close loss Thursday, this time to the Boston Celtics after Tuesday's second-half rally fell short against the Los Angeles Lakers.

Thursday's defeat, shown in HD on both TXA21 and TNT, likely amassed big ratings in D-FW. On display for many to see was an old man who seems incapable of driving to the hoop let alone sinking a jump shot from anywhere on the floor. He suddenly seems to have the penetrating skills of a 40-year-old virgin.

Yes, Kidd still makes a few nice passes. But so did the traded Devin Harris when he was a Maverick. And by the way, Harris scored 26 points and had nine assists Wednesday night in New Jersey's win over Atlanta despite playing on a sore ankle he re-injured the night before. How many games will it take Kidd to score 26 points? At the rate of three per every two games, the buzzer will sound on the Mavs' regular season before he gets there.

He's almost forcing Dallas to play four on five in a half-court offense. Teams can dare him to shoot from the outside because he'll clang at least two-thirds of his jumpers, assuming he even draws iron. Meanwhile, his quickness and ability to drive to the hoop seem to have missed the plane that brought him here.

Kidd's starting to look a lot like Drew Bledsoe in his final half-season as the Dallas Cowboys QB. He seems a bit gun-shy and a lot used up. Except that there's no young gun Tony Romo to step in. Harris was the Mavericks' Romo, but now he's history in these parts.

Even a mere TV critic -- who used to be a sportswriter way back when -- can see that Kidd's just not going to be the answer this year. Not unless every superior team in the West -- and East -- loses its star player for the rest of the season. Impose his will? Kidd's obviously trying hard, but it's the opposition that has the will and the ways to take advantage of him. That is, unless he suddenly becomes Devin Harris.

It seems way too late for that to happen. But please let me be wrong.