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

1. Stud - Josh Green

Josh Green desperately needed to have a game where things clicked on all cylinders after a pretty inconsistent start to the season, and the Dallas Mavericks got just that out of Green last night.

For whatever reason, Green's confidence on offense seems to have taken a hit to start the season compared to last year. Sure, teams are going to key in on Green a little more defensively after an excellent summer with the Australian Boomers at the FIBA World Cup and a breakout season with Dallas last year.

However, that's not to say that Green isn't still a huge benefactor of the space provided when one of Luka Doncic or Kyrie Irving is on the court, and there have been some times this season where he's passed up some potential open looks or drives to the rim that he should be taking advantage of.

Green also has moved more sporadically on defense so far this season compared to last year, and Dallas will need him to put a harness on his tendency to gamble for steals and preemptively close out on shooters going forward.

That being said, the player we saw last night was much more of the player Mavericks' fans expected when Green signed a three-year $41 million extension right before the season started. Green was an active disruptor at the point of attack on defense for Dallas last night and was using his length, size, and quickness to stay with defenders rather than gamble en route to two.

He also made three 3-pointers last night and ran the floor well in transition both from a playmaking and attacking perspective. Green's offensive toolbox can be opened up even further and we've seen his ability to do some uncanny things when handling the ball for Dallas on offense, but we can just be happy that he had a great bounce-back performance after quite a few duds.

For more on how Josh Green fares as well as how the rest of the Mavericks are doing, stay tuned with us as we'll have you covered on all fronts going forward.