NBA Cup forces Mavericks and Jason Kidd into unexpected ethical dilemma

The Dallas Mavericks are now 1-1 in the Emirates NBA Cup Group Play following their win over the New Orleans Pelicans on Tuesday night, and they'll have two more games over the next few weeks to determine if they get to move on to the Knockout Rounds or not.

Dallas is in a loaded Group C, as they are joined by the Golden State Warriors, Denver Nuggets, Memphis Grizzlies, and the Pelicans, and the Mavs will have the chance to improve to 2-1 in Group Play as they face the Nuggets on Friday at Ball Arena.

Dallas started Group Play with a 120-117 loss to the Warriors in Klay Thompson's return to the Bay, and they followed that up with a 132-91 win over the Pelicans. The Mavs' three-point loss to the Warriors and the 41-point destruction of the Pelicans have one thing in common, and this part of the NBA Cup has divided fans on where they stand.

Point differential in Group Play is the second tiebreaker for advancing to the Knockout Rounds behind only head-to-head record, and Dallas only losing by three points to Golden State was the best way to lose considering their point differential was only -3.

Kidd stresses sportsmanship over controversial point differential rule

On the other hand, the Mavs' 41-point win over the Pelicans was an outstanding help for point differential, but Mavs head coach Jason Kidd seemed to have mixed feelings when talking about this part of the game and how it impacts the NBA Cup.

Teams having to navigate the point differential rule isn't something that fans anticipated much before the NBA Cup began, but it has quietly become a big talking point.

"Everyone's talking about it, I'm trying to figure out what the right thing to do," Kidd said. "We're not trying to embarrass anybody. We tried to keep the game where it was not a run-up...It was talked about a lot, and the game ended where it ended."

Kidd repeatedly emphasized that they weren't looking to "embarrass" the Pelicans, and he said Dallas looking for another bucket at the end of the game rather than dribbling out the shot clock wasn't in his cards.

Dallas could have left starters in the game for longer to run up the score and destroy the Pelicans even more, but that strategy didn't interest Kidd and the Mavs.

"That's disrespectful," Kidd said when asked if he thought about pushing his team to get another bucket at the end of the game. "That's not what this game is all about or tournament is all about, it's playing the game the right way..."

Kidd talked about how the Mavs weren't trying to run up the score, and regardless of what Kidd thinks of the rule, the point differential aspect of the NBA Cup has quietly become an integrity issue for teams around the league. He had to walk the tightrope of not disrespecting New Orleans while also having the idea of the point differential in the back of his head, and having point differential as one of the tiebreakers is one of the more flawed parts of the NBA Cup.

This could lead to teams playing their starters for longer than they need to, even in games that are out of reach, and this would result in bad basketball and the risk of these guys getting injured. There has to be a better tiebreaker that the league can come up with to protect the spirit of the game as well as the players' health, and when listening to Kidd's tone when answering the question about it, he may agree too.

Kidd and the Mavs did a good job of remaining ethical while also taking care of business against the Pelicans, and hopefully, the league will eventually explore more fair and effective tiebreaker systems. When it would have been easy for the Mavs to blow out the injury-riddled Pelicans by 50+ points, Kidd stood tall on his values.