Luka Doncic's much-needed change pushes Mavericks to blowout win over Bulls

Through the first seven games of the season, slow starts had been the Dallas Mavericks' kryptonite.

They could seemingly never get out of the gates hot, and a lot of that fell onto Luka Doncic's shoulders. Mavs fans have been used to Doncic being the king of the first quarter and setting the tone right away, but that hasn't been the case this season.

Over the first seven games, Doncic averaged 8.1 points per game in the first quarter, but his field goal percentage was way down. He shot just 35.4 percent from the field and 21.1 percent from downtown in these seven games, but he made a major change on Wednesday night against the Chicago Bulls.

Doncic deferring to Irving early helps push Dallas to win over Chicago

Rather than calling his own number and trying to force shots early, Doncic deferred to Kyrie Irving early on in this game and it worked wonders for the team's offense. Irving finished with 15 points in the first quarter while shooting 6-7 from the field, and his defense and aggressiveness helped set the tone in this game.

Irving was dialed in right away in this game, and Doncic getting Irving involved early in this game helped set the foundation for a great game for both of them. By deferring to Irving early on, it allowed Doncic to let his offensive game come to him and get his passing going. Doncic finished with eight points and five assists while shooting 2-2 from downtown, and the lob game was finally rolling for Dallas.

Doncic wasn't settling for the same long twos that he had been in the first two games, and taking over the game together with Irving is something the Mavs should utilize more often. It doesn't always have to just be Doncic taking over the game in the first quarter, and Dallas brought in Irving to help take some of the weight off his shoulders.

Doncic shouldn't have to feel like he has to take over every game early in order to win, and the win over the Bulls was a testament to that. Dallas also got Klay Thompson involved early in this game, and that is something they have needed to do for a while. Thompson's limited role offensively early on in games definitely hurt Dallas, and his five points on five shots in the first quarter was a good step in the right direction to ensure that Dallas gets him involved right away consistently.

Doncic and Irving's dominant start helped the Mavs cruise to a 119-99 victory over the Bulls to improve to 2-2 on the home stand and 5-3 on the year, and their performance in the first quarter helped lay the perfect blueprint for how they need to handle the beginning of the game moving forward.

Doncic is at his best when he is letting the game come to him and reacting to what the defense throws at him, and that's how he had this dominant game. He played at his pace and took over the game with his playmaking, and Chicago had no answers for him.

When he and Irving are playing at an elite level offensively, they are extremely hard to stop. Irving was knifing to the rim whenever he wanted to, and he remains unstoppable when shooting threes after a jab step.

Doncic finished with 27 points, seven rebounds, and 13 assists for the night while shooting 8-19 from the field, and this was the first time all season that he took less than 20 shots in a game. Irving finished with 17 points, six rebounds, and three steals on the night, and although he cooled off after the first quarter, he was a huge reason that Dallas was able to get the win.

This was the highest-scoring first quarter we have ever seen out of Irving of his Mavs' tenure as he finished with 15 points in the first quarter, and Dallas needs more starts like this out of him moving forward. He can take the game over at any time, and although it typically happens in the second half, his early takeover against the Bulls was a huge change for the better.