Will we finally see full Luka?

It has been examined extensively this early season, almost excessively so, but Luka cleary hasn’t been his best to anyone who is watching. No doubt.

But Friday’s win over Miami was a step in the right direction. He (finally!) made some jumpers, got into the lane at will, and all-in-all controlled the game against a top tier defense.

The shooting overall was still meh (9/22), but as we know, that will come. It was just great to get a firm reminder what Luka magic can look like. The Mavericks need it to appear more often than not.

Can they finally string together good performances?

Consistency, on both ends, has been the Mavericks nemesis this early season. Both of their very impressive wins came on the heels of ugly blowouts, one to a lottery-bound Hornets team at home.

This Jekyll-and-Hide routine is fitting with early trends in the league, as we have seen dramatic swings in effectiveness from several of last seasons bubble inhabitants.

Thats no excuse mind you, the team should be expected to perform. They’re professional basketball players.

But they aren’t alone in their uneven play. Tonight in Chicago, against a struggling Bulls squad, would be a great way to get things rolling in the right direction.

Will the threes finally start to fall?

The Mavericks boasted the most efficient offense in league history last year. There were a lot of reasons for that, such as Luka Doncic’s rapid ascension, Rick Carlisle’s brilliance, but most notably, great three point shooting.

And it came from some unexpected places. Tim Hardaway Jr., Maxi Kleber, & Dorian Finney-Smith were all key rotation pieces who improved their range shooting. Dramatically so.

However through the first handful of games, they’ve been among the worst in the league in that department. A lot of that is the departures of Seth Curry (expected), the absence of Kristaps Porzingis, and Luka’s ice cold start. But even then, they’re just clanking a lot of open ones. Hardaway, Finney-Smith, Richardson, all of ‘em.

The law of average says that those numbers will even out. Everyone certainly hopes so, maybe they can catch fire tonight in the Windy City.