Spencer Dinwiddie, Dereck Lively II ignite Mavericks’ dormant bench in win over Jazz

Even after what coach Jason Kidd called a low-energy loss in Phoenix, the Dallas Mavericks could be excused for being a little distracted at home Monday night against winless Utah.

Especially with Tuesday night’s quick turnaround game in the Western Conference finals looming in Minneapolis.

As Luka Doncic battled to a 15-point performance on 5-of-22 shooting, Dallas couldn’t shake Utah, but Dereck Lively II and Spencer Dinwiddie awakened the Mavericks’ dormant bench scoring and helped spark a 110-102 victory over a sold-out crowd from the American Airlines Center.

Dinwiddie, scoreless at halftime, erupted for 11 points in the third quarter. A back-to-back dunk by Lively and 3-pointer by Dinwiddie energized the crowd and gave the Mavericks (2-1) an 82-70 lead entering the fourth quarter.

“Just electric: Getting my teammates up, having the fans up, just gets the team going,” said Lively, who finished with 14 points, four rebounds and three blocks.

The Mavericks were also boosted by Kyrie Irving (23 points), Klay Thompson (18 points) and PJ Washington, who rebounded from a 5-point, 2-of-10 performance in Phoenix two nights earlier by finishing with 12 points and 11 rebounds . .

“I feel like we’re headed in the right direction, but we’ve still got to get better, man,” Irving said. “We’re nowhere near our championship habits right now. We’re in that stage of development and trying not to get too frustrated, but also stay encouraged; stay motivated.”

Every bit of help was needed on a night where Doncic made just one of his nine 3-point shot attempts, though he finished with nine rebounds and eight assists.

“He’s a human being and we saw that tonight,” Kidd said. “But I thought he really leaned on his teammates to be able to create plays and wide-open looks.”

The Mavericks can only hope for a better performance against the Timberwolves, and they probably didn’t expect their starters to play such heavy minutes on Monday: 35 by Irving and 33 by Doncic and Washington.

Dallas shot 45% but limited the Jazz to 37%.

“We’re not shooting the ball well right now and we’re getting wide open looks that just haven’t gone down,” Kidd said. . . “It’s early. If we get those shots all season, we believe we’ll be one of the best offensive teams in the league.”

The presence of Utah, coming off a 41-point home loss to Golden State, figured to provide some deodorant for Dallas’ early season inconsistencies.

Photos: Six Mavs score in double figures as bench keys 110-102 win over Jazz

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The rebuilding Jazz lost by 50 points here last December and came into Monday having lost seven in a row in Dallas. Coach Will Hardy admitted some concern that his young players might overreact to stellar plays by the likes of Doncic, Irving and Thompson.

“It’s a morbid way to approach the game, but when you play against players of this caliber, you almost have to decide how you want to lose,” Hardy said. “Like, ‘Hey, if we leave the arena tonight and that’s the way they beat us, we’re OK with that.'”

Thompson’s early form has been almost seamless. In Dallas’ first two games, he averaged 20.5 points and shot 14-of-29 from the field, including 11-of-22 from 3-point range.

For fellow newcomers Naji Marshall and Quentin Grimes, the transition hasn’t been as smooth, at least offensively. They were brought to Dallas primarily for their defense, but when they shot a combined 3-of-17 and scored six points in the first two games, it raised eyebrows, if not yet concerns.

Things didn’t start any better Monday, as Marshall went 0-for-2 in the first half, both 3-pointers, including an airball.

In Saturday’s loss in Phoenix, Dallas’ bench players were outscored 23-9 and shot 4-of-13. Against the Jazz, with Maxi Kleber out with a hamstring strain, Dallas’ bench was outscored just 10-8 in the first half — but all those points came from Lively.

“You look at Naji and Q, those guys have to get used to playing with Luka,” Kidd said. “And unfortunately we didn’t have Luka in the preseason.

“So it’s going to take some time here in the process of getting used to each other … That question is more around Christmas, where we are with that relationship building.”

Marshall and Grimes combined for four second-half points, and Marshall added six rebounds on the night to help Dallas fend off the Jazz. The Mavericks finished with 33 bench points.

“Get out there and run,” Lively said. “And throwing the ball forward and just getting to what we do. . . I feel like we did a good job of moving the ball around and finding the open shot. At times we were a little too unselfish, but that’s a great team to have.”

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