The Dallas Mavericks took down the Houston Rockets last night to improve to 11-6 on the year. On the bright side they are only two games out of the top spot in the Western Conference. On the other side they are only a 1.5 games clear of the play-in tournament and failed to advance in the prestigious NBA In-Season Tournament. I's early, but Luka Donćić looks as awesome as ever and Kyrie Irving is talking more with his play on the court than off. There are plenty of reasons for everyone in this team's orbit to be positive, according to coach Jason Kidd, who shared some editorial notes with the media during his postgame presser.

It was a question from ESPN's Tim McMahon that really set him off. A question about how good the team's superstar duo has been last year.

“You made a big deal about last year," Kidd pontificated. "But you’re not making a big deal about this year, because s–t’s going good, right? So write some positive s–t. … People will read your positive s–t. You don’t always have to be negative. … We can’t go back to last year. That’s the f—ing problem."

Players are always going to appreciate a coach who has their backs and Kidd's job is to get the most out of his team so his stance is perfectly understandable. It's also the timeless lament of every coach who has walked out to the end of his driveway like Tony Soprano and angrily read whatever the writers are writing about their team. This is the timeless, delicate dance that will take place until the "Drew Ortizes" of the world completely take over and then we'll miss it.

Kidd can have his position but the Mavs went 38-44 last year with a tremendous amount of talent and missed the playoffs completely, an impressive feat in the NBA's participation trophy era of postseason expansion. Irving played all of 20 games and every single goal they had went unrealized. So of course the narrative was that things were going poorly. They went poorly, after all.

This article was originally published on thebiglead as Jason Kidd's Tip to ESPN's Tim McMahon: 'Write Some Positive Sh-t'.