THREE POINTS

HOT AND COLD

Whether it was the trade speculation, the cracked rib that the New Jersey Nets just acknowledged or simply reality, point guard Jason Kidd is struggling badly with his shot this month after shooting perhaps the best of his career in January.

Shooting 47.9% from the field and 46.9% from three-point range last month, Kidd is making only 37.5% overall and an abysmal 17.2% of his three-point attempts this month. Known more for touch passes than shooting touch, he is at 40.4% from the field in his career and 33.3% from three-point territory.

During his January surge, Kidd attributed his progress to taking 300 extra shots a day.

Asked why he didn’t do so earlier in his career, he said, “I think it’s just how stubborn you are. If I had shot this many shots at age 25, who knows what would have happened?”

Pressed on the subject, the 34-year-old added, “I had to get to the golf course.”

BANG FOR BUCKS

Leading scorer Michael Redd’s return didn’t come soon enough for the Milwaukee Bucks, who went from 16-17 before his knee injury Jan. 5 to 19-34 when he returned Tuesday.

Not surprisingly, one of the Bucks’ biggest problems was scoring. They went from averaging 103.2 points with Redd to 93.3 without him.

SELECT COMPANY

The Dallas Mavericks on Thursday became only the fourth team in NBA history to have three winning streaks of at least 10 games in the same season.

The Bucks (1970-1971), Philadelphia 76ers (1980-1981) and Lakers (1999-2000) also accomplished the feat.

The 76ers were the only one not to go on to win the title.