Turns out Dallas Mavericks’ head coach Jason Kidd knows what he’s talking about

Jason Kidd probably wouldn’t do it in public, but he more than earned his right to extend a certain middle finger to a lot of us. For those in the back, who can’t hear or see too well, he can extend his other middle digit as well.

With a smile, of course.

The head coach of the Dallas Mavericks has become a favorite of fans to kick around and easily label as “Coach Stupid.” He did try to warn us, and most of us (who, me?) either didn’t buy it, or at best weren’t too sure.

Back on March 5, the Mavericks lost to the Indiana Pacers in Dallas, their fifth defeat in six games. They looked atrocious in that skid, and played like a team that would barely make the play-in.

After that loss, Kidd sat there for an unusually long meeting with us media scum where he displayed the patience of a grandmother; he answered a host of questions that boiled down to why his team stunk. And what he was going to do about it.

“Every team goes through it,” Kidd said that night. “Maybe a couple don’t. But we’re in the midst of it. We have the talent and the mindset. It’s just being able to do it on a consistent basis. And that’s what every other team is fighting for, to be consistent.

“If we get hot, everybody will ask how did this thing turn around.”

On April, 7, the question for Jason Kidd is, “How did this thing turn around?”

On March 5, the Mavs dropped to 34-28.

On April 7, the Mavs improved to 48-30 after a 147-136 overtime win over the Houston Rockets on Sunday afternoon.

The Mavs had no business winning a game they slept through the first half, and worked so hard to blow for most of the afternoon. The Rockets aren’t that good, and had this one in the bag until the final seconds.

Because this is the NBA, where the better team always wins, the Rockets blew it when Mavs guard Dante Exum hit a 3-pointer at the end of regulation to force OT. It was the Mavs’ first OT game all season.

In the span of one month the Mavericks went from a team that was “competing” for the 10th spot in the Western Conference to potentially catching the fourth seed L.A. Clippers.

The Mavericks aren’t quite good enough to win an NBA title this season, but they are playing at a level where their roster says they should: Near the top of the NBA’s second tier of teams. As a head coach, Jason Kidd has done his job.

He’s not going to win the NBA’s Coach of the Year award. He probably doesn’t care about that one.

He ain’t getting fired. That’s the one he cares about.

The Mavericks have four regular-season games remaining; they will both hit the 50-win mark, and return to the playoffs where their first round opponent could very well be those Clippers. Another Mavs/Clippers playoff series would be fun theater.

Whatever the Mavericks were doing one month ago, mostly not guarding anyone, they’ve corrected. Kidd has figured out a rotation with new acquisitions P.J. Washington and Daniel Gafford, both of whom make this team legit.

If Mavericks forward Luka Doncic played in New York, or Los Angeles, he already would have been handed the MVP trophy. As good as he is, in a year or two he’s going to be better.

We might be taking him for granted.

Guard Kyrie Irving has been healthy for a long stretch, and playing like the league hasn’t seen since he was in Boston. When he’s right, there is no ball handler alive like him. Against Houston, Ky’ scored 48 points in 45 minutes.

The only reason the Mavericks can’t be considered a legit NBA title contender is the big man in Denver. And the one in Milwaukee. Perhaps maybe the team in Boston, too.

The NBA is the biggest of big man games, and it’s hard to envision a world where the Denver Nuggets lose a seven-game series in the Western Conference playoffs provided Nikola Jokic is playing.

In the last year or so, the Mavericks made significant moves to upgrade their roster and those additions are paying off. This is a good, deep, team.

Take a bow Jason Kidd. Or extend a middle finger, too.

You’ve earned it.