3 studs, 2 duds from Mavericks' thrilling victory over Nets

2. Dud - Josh Green

Josh Green has yet to have a statement game this season after his preseason play and new contract extension pointed toward a potential breakout season. To his credit, we don’t know if it’s coaching that is limiting some of his potential offensive output due to scheme, or if it’s solely on Green.

Nonetheless, though, he hasn’t looked as aggressive off the bounce as some may have expected heading into this season. Green made his mark on being explosive off the dribble last year for Dallas, and he has an increased amount of opportunities to get to the rim when playing with Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving because of the spacing they provide offensively, but he didn’t take advantage of that last night against Brooklyn.

Green missed all three of his shots from outside last night, and it makes you wonder if getting off to a slow start shooting-wise adversely affects his confidence offensively. Green had a few good dump-off passes when attacking downhill and played decent defense on Brooklyn’s wings, so it wasn’t a total slugfest from him as no one played truly abysmal last night.

However, he struggled guarding Cam Thomas and Spencer Dinwiddie at the point of attack and didn’t look as laterally sound when guarding the perimeter. Green preemptively reacted to opposing guards' deceptive footwork on multiple occasions en route to getting beat to the spot a few times.

Green still played with a lot of effort per usual and had some big rebounds and free throws down the stretch as he finished the game out for the Mavericks despite not starting. While he may not have had the most effective game, Green is hopefully still poised to break out at the start of the year for Dallas as he’s shown some crazy potential with how effective he’s looked when he’s locked in on both sides of the ball.