Mavericks find unexpected solution to concerning weakness in win over Jazz

After three games, the Dallas Mavericks are sitting at 2-1. The Mavs were able to bounce back after an underwhelming weekend loss to the Phoenix Suns with a 110-102 win over the Utah Jazz on Monday night, and Dallas' big three continues to lead the way.

Despite P.J. Washington having a great first half and finishing with 12 points, 11 rebounds, and four steals, the scoring outside of Dallas' big three was quite slow to start this game. Especially the scoring off the bench.

Dallas' bench had a decent game against the San Antonio Spurs on opening night as they finished with 35 points collectively, but the Phoenix game over the weekend was a different story.

The Mavs' bench scored just nine points against the Suns, and these scoring struggles from the second unit and beyond bled over into the early phases of Dallas' game against Utah on Monday night at the American Airlines Center.

Dinwiddie proves he can be a great spark plug in win over Utah

Kidd started the game off by subbing in Spencer Dinwiddie as the sixth man despite him not playing against the Suns, and he couldn't get anything going early. Dinwiddie was scoreless in the first half, but he got things going in the third quarter.

In the third quarter alone, Dinwiddie finished with 11 points while shooting 3-4 from downtown, and he finally started to gain some confidence and rhythm. His 3-point jumper off the dribble looked solid, and he also made a great feed to Lively II for a reverse slam.

Dinwiddie's poor preseason and slow start to the regular season were forgotten after his electric second half that helped push the Mavs to a win over Utah, and Kidd and the Mavs desperately needed him to step up.

Kidd wasn't able to find any reliable scoring off the bench for the Phoenix game and the first half of the Utah game, and Dinwiddie was able to break through his early funk and show how valuable he can be for this team.

Dallas' bench scoring was undoubtedly one of the biggest concerns of the team before Monday night's win, and Dinwiddie's performance helped alleviate a bit of that concern.

Despite making his presence felt on defense, Naji Marshall has yet to have his full offensive coming-out party just yet. Marshall is shooting 26.6 percent from the field on the year, and he hasn't been able to get any in-rhythm threes going. His shots from downtown have mostly been rushed, and he is still feeling out his fit into Dallas' offense despite a decent stretch against Utah in the third quarter.

Kidd stressed that everyone needs to "be patient" when it comes to Quentin Grimes and Marshall's fit in Dallas, and even related their situations to what happened with Kyrie Irving when he was first traded to the Mavs. It took some time for him to get going, and the patience paid off for the Mavs as Irving eventually turned into a seamless fit next to Luka Doncic.

Dallas got lucky when it came to how quickly Washington and Daniel Gafford fit in, and Grimes and Marshall will eventually find their nook in the Mavs' system, it just going to take time.

Until then, Kidd is going to have to continue to experiment with different lineups and combinations until they find some reliable and consistent scoring off the bench. The beginning of the season is the perfect time to do this, and Kidd has plenty of time to nail down his every-night rotation.

Dinwiddie did a great job of showing Kidd that he can be a consistent scorer and spark plug off the bench when needed, and his game against Utah had some flashes of the Dinwiddie of old. His buckets in the second half of this win over Utah were some of the louder moments in this game, as he helped the Mavs take the game over.

Dinwiddie is one of the fan favorites on the team considering that he had a great stint in Dallas before the current one, and his performance against the Minnesota Timberwolves tomorrow is going.