3 Studs, 2 duds in Mavericks' 136-124 victory over Pelicans

The Dallas Mavericks were able to defeat the New Orleans Pelicans off yet another dynamic display shooting the basketball last night, as they knocked down 20 out of 53 three-pointers (37.7 percent).

Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving were in lockstep the entire game, and it seems like they are continually getting more acclimated to each other’s play style with every game that goes by.

They are working in a lot more direct actions together as well, and it’s been fun to see their passing ability and basketball IQ pay off between each other in those scenarios.

3 Studs, 2 duds in Mavericks' 136-124 victory over Pelicans

The spacing they are creating for this Mavericks offense is as invaluable as ever, even if one of Doncic or Irving is having an off game. Irving seems to appreciate how locked in everyone is on both sides of the ball after a historic 8-2 start.

"It's easy to play that way when you're not turning the ball over, and you're keeping the other team off the free throw line, you're getting stops consecutively, and you have spurts of four or five minutes where a play isn't being called. It's a constant pace. We're running to our spots and remembering the little details that make us a great squad."

- Kyrie Irving

Nonetheless, here are 3 studs, and 2 duds from the Mavericks' 136-124 victory over New Orleans last night.

5. Stud - Kyrie Irving

Kyrie Irving undoubtedly falls into the stud category for this game. Irving's overall process on both sides of the ball has looked extremely well to start the season, as he's getting teammates involved as much as ever and effortlessly getting to his spots on offense.

However, that hasn't always necessarily translated into good shooting performances, and Irving has had some less-than-ideal offensive performances to start the year. His struggles never materialized enough into anything too noticeable from a national media perspective luckily enough though, as they've been swept under the rug due to his ability to affect the game within other facets as well as the Mavericks' hot 8-2 start.

Irving silenced all the doubters last night who didn't believe he could get it back on track offensively, and did so in spectacular fashion. Irving scored 35 points on a scorching 7-10 3-point shooting mark. Irving was thriving from the space provided by Doncic getting double-teamed so often, and the Mavericks' coaching staff involved Irving in a ton of zoom, stagger, dribble-handoff actions designed to get Irving going downhill.

After Irving drained a three at the half-time buzzer to cap off an electric first half, the Pelicans had to mercifully pray that it didn't get his shooting going in the second half as well, but Irving kept pushing the pace of play and it led to an even greater bombardment from downtown for Dallas.

Irving obviously won't make seven out of 10 3-pointers every game, but he seems like he's really gained his mojo back offensively, and it makes Dallas an unstoppable force when he and Doncic are playing this hyper-efficiently.