2-0.

That is the Mavericks record.

The last time they started 2-0, you ask? 2004-2005.

That seems like an eternity.

After a slow start, giving up 41 first quarter points, the Mavericks found their groove and beat the Pelicans 123-116 in a back-and-forth contest.
Dallas was led by Luka Doncic, who notched his first triple-double of the season, 25 points, 10 rebounds, and 10 dimes. Kristaps Porzingis followed with 24 points on 8/17 shooting.

Wright is right

Jalen Brunson was moved into the starting lineup tonight in place of Delon Wright and it sure looked like Wright used that as motivation. When Wright entered the game, he played for 16 consecutive minutes, making plays on offense and harassing the opposing team on the defensive end.

Delon finished with 20 points, 7 rebounds, 3 assists, and 5 steals along with being a +11 when on the floor.

Carlisle on Delon Wright's performance: "We haven't seen defense like that since Jason Kidd was here."

— Bobby Karalla (@bobbykaralla) October 26, 2019

Carlisle is going to be fluid with his lineups; we get it. And I know it’s only two games in to an 82 game season, but Wright should be have his spot in the starting lineup stamped. He makes that big of an impact defensively.

He deserves it.

Starting lineup fluidity

Back to the fluidity of Carlisle’s starting lineups. I get it. The Mavs have a deep team this season. Hell, even last season and in year’s past, Rick liked to shake things up in the starting lineup.

But we saw tonight the potential that the Mavericks best all-around lineup can be. That lineup is Brunson, Wright, Luka, KP, and Maxi, which is the lineup that started the second half.

So much versatility on both offense and defense within this lineup and it surely showed tonight.

Granted, Dwight Powell has yet to play this season so he could ultimately start at the 5 alongside KP but this starting of Courtney Lee is just pointless. He played 5:44 tonight. Literally never saw the floor again after being subbed out in the first.

Give it a rest. Let’s start our best lineup, listed above, and put a stop to these slow starts which we’ve seen in the first two games.

Holy Luka

Again. He did it again!

Doncic continues to drop the jaws of Mavs and NBA fans all over the world. With the game on the line deep into the fourth quarter and Porzingis just being subbed out in foul trouble, Doncic took over as we saw him time and time again last season.

A scooping layup across the lane followed by his signature step-back three on the left wing but this time a rainbow off the backboard was the cherry on top to almost surely clinch the victory.

A L L S T A R pic.twitter.com/pzWrl8dHe3

— Dallas Mavericks (@dallasmavs) October 26, 2019

Once again, it’s only the second game of the season but man, the kid from Slovenia is looking like an early dark horse MVP candidate if the Mavs can continuing winning games. And with Luka and KP surrounded by all these skilled role players, winning games is something you should continue to see in Dallas.