The Mavericks find an unexpected solution to the question of weakness in the victory over the Jazz

After three games, the Dallas Mavericks are 2-1. The Mavs were able to bounce back from an underwhelming weekend loss to the Phoenix Suns with a 110-102 win over the Utah Jazz on Monday night, and Dallas’ big three continues to lead the way.

Despite PJ Washington having a great first half, finishing with 12 points, 11 rebounds and four steals, the scoring outside of Dallas’ big three was pretty slow to start this game. Especially the scoring from the bench.

Dallas’ bench had a decent game against the San Antonio Spurs on opening night, finishing with a combined 35 points, but the Phoenix game over the weekend was a different story.

The Mavs’ bench scored just nine points against the Suns, and those scoring struggles from the second unit and beyond bled into the early stages of Dallas’ game against Utah on Monday night at the American Airlines Center.

Kidd started the game inserting Spencer Dinwiddie as the sixth man, even though he didn’t play against the Suns, and he couldn’t get anything going early. Dinwiddie was scoreless in the first half, but he got things going in the third quarter.

In the third quarter alone, Dinwiddie finished with 11 points while shooting 3-4 from downtown, and he finally started to get some confidence and rhythm. His 3-point jumper off the dribble looked solid, and he also made a great feed to Lively II for a reverse slam.

Dinwiddie’s poor preseason and slow start to the regular season were forgotten after his electric second half that helped push the Mavs to a win over Utah, and Kidd and the Mavs desperately needed him to step up.

Kidd was unable to find any reliable scoring off the bench for the Phoenix game and the first half of the Utah game, and Dinwiddie was able to break through his early funk and show how valuable he can be to this team.

Dallas’ bench scoring was arguably one of the team’s biggest concerns before Monday night’s win, and Dinwiddie’s performance helped alleviate a bit of that concern.

Despite asserting himself on defense, Naji Marshall has yet to have his full offensive coming-out party. Marshall is shooting 26.6 percent from the field on the year, and he hasn’t been able to get threes going in rhythm. His shooting from downtown has mostly been rushed, and he still feels like he fits into Dallas’ offense despite a decent stretch against Utah in the third quarter.

Kidd emphasized that everyone needs to “be patient” when it comes to Quentin Grimes and Marshall’s fit in Dallas, and even related their situations to what happened with Kyrie Irving when he was first traded to the Mavs. It took some time for him to get going, and patience paid off for the Mavs as Irving eventually morphed into a seamless fit next to Luka Doncic.

Dallas was fortunate in how quickly Washington and Daniel Gafford fit in, and Grimes and Marshall will eventually find their groove in the Mavs’ system, it’s just going to take time.

Until then, Kidd will have to continue experimenting with different lineups and combinations until they find some reliable and consistent scoring off the bench. The beginning of the season is the perfect time to do this, and Kidd has plenty of time to solidify his rotation every night.

Dinwiddie did a good job of showing Kidd that he can be a consistent scorer and spark plug off the bench when needed, and his game against Utah had some flashes of old Dinwiddie. His buckets in the second half of this win over Utah were some of the louder moments of this game as he helped the Mavs take the game.

Dinwiddie is one of the fan favorites on the team considering that he had a good stay in Dallas before the current one and his performance against the Minnesota Timberwolves tomorrow goes.