Mavs' Kidd dishes out praise for Lin

Shawn Marion, who guarded him for most of the game, called him "feisty." Dirk Nowitzki, the only player who outscored him, called him "crafty." Those were nice words from a couple of forwards. But when it comes to point guards, it takes one to know one.

So it was up to Jason Kidd, who plays the position for the defending NBA champion Mavericks, to give the most resounding compliment for Jeremy Lin after another remarkable game for the Knicks' phenom. Kidd said, "He looks a little bit like Steve Nash out there."

Even after two weeks of nonstop accolades that have compared Lin with everyone from Rocky to Tim Tebow to Joe Hardy of "Damn Yankees," that comment stood out. Not just because it put him in the same class with a two-time Most Valuable Player, but because it came from the player whom Lin idolized when he was growing up in Northern California.

After the Lin-led Knicks beat the Mavericks, 104-97, at the Garden Sunday, when Kidd was asked if Lin made his admiration known during the game, he grinned and said, "Yes."

"He's a great kid," Kidd said. "He's very humble and he plays extremely hard. No matter whether he makes a mistake or he makes a fantastic play, he plays the game the right way. As a point guard, that's what you love to see."

Kidd added that Lin told him he thought a few of the veteran's missed three-pointers had been sure to go in. "I think he was softening me up," the former Nets great said.

Make no mistake, though. The Mavs were the latest to feel the sharp edge of Lin's relentless game, which is thriving in Mike D'Antoni's system, as Nash's did with the Suns. "There's a thousand pick-and-rolls. It's hard to guard them. That's the hardest thing to guard in the league," Marion said after "holding" Lin to 28 points and 14 assists.

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Nowitzki, who had 34 points, said: "He knows how to get to the basket. He knows how to cut off the spin and still get to his spot, and he made some tough shots there. I really like him."

The Knicks and their crowd got after Jason Terry when he was called for a flagrant foul on Lin with 4:45 left in the first quarter. That ignited a 17-0 run. "Maybe I could have wrapped him up and it wouldn't have looked so heinous, but I didn't lower the shoulder," Terry said.

Lin took the Mavericks' breath away, too. "He played great and he's playing great. It's a great story," said Kidd, who played under D'Antoni's system in the Olympics and called it "a point guard's dream."

Kidd said the Knicks' coach needs a point guard to run his offense. "And," the all-time great said, "He has one."