So far, Jason Kidd hasn't given the Dallas Mavericks the spark they'd hoped for - but they're hoping a visit from his former team might help.

Kidd will face his former teammates for the first time since being acquired in a blockbuster trade last month as the Mavericks host the New Jersey Nets on Saturday night.

The Mavericks (39-23) acquired Kidd on Feb. 19 in an eight-player deal that sent point guard Devin Harris, center DeSagana Diop, swingman Maurice Ager, retired forward Keith Van Horn and Trenton Hassell to New Jersey (26-36) along with two future first-round draft picks and $3 million.

Forward Malik Allen and guard Antoine Wright also went to Dallas.

The Mavericks were hoping Kidd, who led the Nets to back-to-back NBA finals appearances in 2002 and 2003, would turn them into championship contenders. So far, however, Dallas is just 4-5 with their new point guard, who is averaging 11.3 points and 10.0 assists with his new team, and has fallen to seventh in the Western Conference.

However, all five of those losses have come against teams ahead of Dallas in the West. The Mavericks' next five games come against teams with losing records, and the first four of those are at home, where Dallas is 25-4.

"We have to have a big performance to snap out of this thing," guard Jason Terry said. "Everyone has to look at themselves and see what each individual can do better within the team concept. We have to get rolling."

A visit from New Jersey might be just what the Mavericks need. The Nets have dropped 13 of 15 against the Mavericks since the start of the 2000-01 season, including seven straight in Dallas.

The Mavericks are coming off their third straight loss overall, a 113-98 defeat against red-hot Houston on Thursday. Josh Howard scored 21 points and Terry had 17 for Dallas, while Kidd chipped in seven points, six assists and six rebounds.

Dirk Nowitzki, who leads the Mavs with 23.6 points and 8.7 rebounds per game, served a one-game suspension for a flagrant foul on Utah's Andrei Kirilenko.

"We definitely missed him," Mavericks coach Avery Johnson said. "But no excuse for our performance tonight. We just had an awful, awful third quarter."

The loss was Dallas' first at home in 13 games since an 88-81 defeat to Cleveland on Dec. 27. The Mavericks will be hoping to bounce back against a Nets team that has lost four straight - and full of former Dallas players that would love to break that slide on their old home court.

"We have to protect our home court," Howard told the Mavericks' official Web site. "We had a rough loss last night. We can't let those guys come in here and beat us. That'll give them extra bragging rights."

The Nets lost 107-96 to New Orleans on Friday. Richard Jefferson scored 27 points and Vince Carter had 19 and 10 assists for the Nets, who are in eighth place in the Eastern Conference, one game ahead of Chicago.

The loss was New Jersey's 14th in 16 road games.

"Blah, blah, blah. Blah. Cliche 1, cliche 2, sports cliche No. 4 and sports cliche No. 7," Jefferson said. "We didn't do a very good job. We didn't give 110 percent. We've got to give it all we got. We've got to leave it all on the court, and we didn't do that."

Harris chipped in 17 points and eight assists. Harris, who had an injured left ankle at the time of the trade, has averaged 18.4 points and 6.0 assists in five games with the Nets, starting the last three.