The Mavericks got a clutch 3-pointer from Jason Kidd with 31 seconds remaining and the Spurs holding the momentum, helping team owner Mark Cuban, and everyone else, forget about what happened two nights earlier in Oklahoma City.

Dallas won for the 37th time this season, but no Mavericks victory had seemed as satisfying.

The Spurs (40-20) return home after losing two of three on their last extended road trip of the season.

Kidd's 3-pointer from the left corner gave the Mavericks a five-point lead after the Spurs had trimmed a 10-point lead to two, at 102-100.

It was a shot the Spurs were willing to cede to Kidd, a career 34 percent shooter from beyond the arc. Committed to double-teaming Dirk Nowitzki, Dallas' most dangerous weapon, the Spurs left Kidd open. Tony Parker rotated up to guard Jason Terry, who had taken a pass from Nowitzki when the Spurs doubled him and forced him to give up the ball.

It was the correct rotation, but the wrong result for the Spurs.

"Give them credit," Popovich said. "In the second half they made shots, and Jason made the biggest shot."

Parker watched Terry's pass sail just over his outstretched hand as he sprinted to deny a shot to one of the Mavericks' most reliable fourth-quarter shooters.

"He just made a big shot," Parker said of Kidd, "and that's what you have to do to win Basketball games. We were double-teaming Nowitzki on the rotation, and Jason made the shot."

It was fitting that Kidd should hit the shot that cemented victory for the Mavericks. He had opened the second half by scoring Dallas' first 10 points, essentially keeping the Mavericks in the game long enough to put together an 11-0 run late in the period that forced the Spurs to scramble from behind in the fourth quarter.

The Mavericks won with Spurs-like defense in the second half. They held the Spurs to 7-for-19 shooting in the third quarter as they opened a seven-point lead they made hold up for the win.

The reason for the Mavericks' steely eyed approach was evident in the morning headlines in Dallas.

The Mavs awoke to stories in the local newspapers in which Cuban threatened to ship out the entire roster if his players continued to show the lack of effort showed Monday in Oklahoma City, where the Thunder, without their top two scorers, embarrassed Cuban's team.

Cuban could not have been more upset had he been forced to drink a gallon of water from the San Antonio River.

Spurs coach Gregg Popovich wasn't quite that upset at his players after Wednesday's outcome, but was more than a little annoyed with ineffective transition defense in the first half.

It was, he said, the reason the Spurs' offensive efficiency - they scored 57 points, on 54 percent shooting - went for naught, producing only a one-point halftime lead.

"We lost our opportunity in the first half," he said "because we were so poor in transition defense. They just ran it down the floor on us, and it was one of the poorest games I've ever seen for transition defense in the first half. We lost a big opportunity there."