Spencer Dinwiddie and Dereck Lively II ignite the Mavericks' idle bench in win over Jazz

Even though the Dallas Mavericks suffered what coach Jason Kidd called a weak loss in Phoenix, they could perhaps be forgiven for being a little distracted at home against winless Utah on Monday night.

Especially since the quick second leg of the Western Conference final is coming up on Tuesday evening in Minneapolis.

With Luka Doncic struggling to produce a 15-point performance on 5 of 22 shooting, Dallas couldn't shake Utah, but Dereck Lively II and Spencer Dinwiddie brought the Mavericks' dormant bench score to life, giving them a 110-102 win before one sold out crowd at the American Airlines Center.

Dinwiddie, scoreless at halftime, scored 11 points in the third quarter. A back dunk from Lively and a three-pointer from Dinwiddie got the crowd going and gave the Mavericks (2-1) an 82-70 lead early in the fourth quarter.

“It's just electrifying: When my teammates stand up, when the fans stand up, it just gets the team going,” said Lively, who finished with 14 points, four rebounds and three blocks.

The Mavericks were also bolstered 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 with 12 points and 11 rebounds recovered.

“I feel like we’re on the right track, but we still have to get better, man,” Irving said. “We are nowhere near our championship habits at the moment. We are in this phase of development and trying not to get too frustrated but also staying encouraged; Stay motivated.”

On a night where Doncic made just one of his nine 3-point attempts despite finishing with nine rebounds and eight assists, every bit of help was needed.

“He’s human and we saw that tonight,” Kidd said. “But I thought he really relied on his teammates to be able to create plays and 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 from Irving and 33 each from 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 open looks that just aren't getting there,” Kidd said. . . “It's early. If we get these shots all season long, 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, seemed to ease Dallas' early-season inconsistencies.

The recovering Jazz lost by 50 points here last December and entered Monday having suffered seven straight losses in Dallas. Coach Will Hardy expressed concern that his young players might overreact to big plays from players like Doncic, Irving and Thompson.

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

Thompson's early integration was virtually 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 the new additions Naji Marshall and Quentin Grimes, the transition didn't go so smoothly, 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 caused excitement, if not concern.

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

In Saturday's loss to Phoenix, Dallas' substitutes outscored the team 23-9, hitting 4 of 13 goals. Against the Jazz, with Maxi Kleber sidelined with a hamstring strain, Dallas' bench was outscored just 10-8 in the first half – but all of those points came from Lively.

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

“So it will take some time for us to get used to each other. . . The question is more about Christmas, where we are in terms of relationship building.”

Marshall and Grimes each scored four points in the second half, and Marshall added six rebounds on the night to help Dallas hold 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’re doing. . . I feel like we did a good job of moving the ball and finding the free shot. At times we were a little too unselfish, but this is a great team.”

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