He's not as explosive as he once was, but his four three-pointers, guile on the court and veteran's savvy helped the Dallas Mavericks eliminate the overmatched Spurs in just five games of their Western Conference first-round playoff series.

His teammates certainly relish playing with him. Backup point guard J.J. Barea said he's idolized Kidd forever. He wore a Kidd jersey during his college days at Northeastern and still has it at his family home in Puerto Rico.

Forward Josh Howard can remember being in middle school and watching Kidd's every move.

"But don't tell him," Howard said. "I'm playing with a Hall of Famer. Actually, with two of them with him and Dirk (Nowitzki)."

It could have all been so different. But for a change of heart, Kidd - and not Tony Parker - could have been handing out passes to Tim Duncan since the 2002-03 season.

At the time, the Spurs were somewhat disenchanted with their own precocious Frenchman without much of a perimeter game . Enough so that they handed the reins to Speedy Claxton in the fourth and deciding quarter of the Finals-clinching win over Kidd's New Jersey Nets.

As the point guard of the Nets and a cornerstone of that Eastern Conference franchise, Kidd had been actively courted by the Spurs, who had salivated over him for years.

Kidd did grant coach Gregg Popovich and general manager R.C. Buford a summer audience, but many considered it nothing more than a courtesy call intended to give the guard more leverage - and eventually a longer contract - with the Nets. Kidd's wife also nixed the move, and New Jersey landed big man Alonzo Mourning to cement the deal to keep Kidd in the Northeast, although that move didn't work out.

And so, Kidd stayed put.

The Spurs, meanwhile, put up two more banners without him, one in 2005 and again in 2007.

"If I had come, I might have had two championships," Kidd said in the visitors' locker room in San Antonio after knocking out the Spurs. "When I made the decision, I felt I had a great opportunity.

"Then, (the Nets) broke up the team, and the Spurs went their own way."

And Kidd his.

Along the way of a decorated 14-year career have come the third-most assists and seventh-most steals in NBA history, a pair of Olympic gold medals and two trips to the NBA Finals. But no rings.

It's what drives him still. That and a $21.4 million salary, the third-highest in the league after Boston's Kevin Garnett and Detroit's Allen Iverson.

He is unsigned beyond this season and hopes to play for three or four more seasons, but he remains a critical part of a Mavericks team that has almost $69 million spoken for among nine current players. He's also someone Mark Cuban probably doesn't want to discard. Kidd may not be the central spoke of this club - Nowitzki, Howard and Jason Terry are the top scorers - but it certainly wouldn't travel as far without him.

"I don't have to carry the load," Kidd said. "I've had my time."

Once considered a very poor shooter, he's drastically improved to the point he topped the 40 percent mark from behind the arc for the first time. "He's one of the best in the business at running a team," Terry said. "As far as lining it up and setting up, I'll take his three-ball over anybody's."

At 36, Kidd's defense has dropped off somewhat from the days when he was a seven-time first- or second-team pick for the NBA's all-defense squad, but he not's without guile on the floor. That could be royally tested in a matchup of super point guards if Chauncey Billup's Denver Nuggets advance to meet Dallas. Billups had been guilty of only three turnovers through four playoff games, the same number Kidd's had in five.

Dallas remains somewhat of a mystery team in terms of its capabilities this postseason.

The Mavs caught fire after the All-Star break, improved from the eighth to the sixth seed in the final two weeks and have lost just one of their past 18 home games.

"Jason's playing his best Basketball for us," Nowitzki said. "The game seems more natural to him this year."

Traded from the Nets at midseason a year ago, Kidd struggled under coach Avery Johnson's controlled, half-court game . Many think Johnson lost his team and especially Nowitzki when he kept Kidd on the bench for the closing seconds of a tight game against the Spurs. Johnson was fired two weeks after the season ended.

Kidd hasn't always been considered coach-friendly , credited (or blamed) for running off Byron Scott from New Jersey before the Mavs dumped Johnson. Some think Kidd and current Mavs coach Rick Carlisle aren't especially close either.

Who knows if he's really a coach-killer , but it's clear he's rejuvenated a Mavericks team busting with offensive weapons.

It's not a particularly strong defensive-minded team, but the Mavs know what's at stake. Why, there was Kidd sprawled on the floor late in Tuesday's game, going for a loose ball.

"He'd better go lay down the next two days," Howard said. "And lots of fluids."

He'll need them. The Mavs dropped all four games against the Nuggets - their likely opponent in the next round - but three of the losses were by two or three points, and Howard and Kidd both missed one or two of those meetings. Nowitzki calls the Nuggets "phenomenal, probably even better than the Lakers."

For now, that's just how Kidd and the Mavs like it.

"Nobody's talking about us," Kidd said. "We haven't done anything yet. We've taken one little baby step. If we won the championship, we'd still be under the radar. Somebody would put an asterisk by it. But we're not done yet."

Not like the Spurs, who are done.

kbohls@statesman.com; 445-3772 t