After three games, the Dallas Mavericks are 2-1. The Mavs were able to bounce back from a disappointing weekend loss to the Phoenix Suns with a 110-102 victory over the Utah Jazz on Monday night, and Dallas’ big three continue 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 quite slow to start this game. Especially scoring from the bench.

Dallas’ bench had a decent game against the San Antonio Spurs on opening night as they finished with a combined 35 points, but the weekend’s game in Phoenix was a different story.

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

Kidd started the game by bringing on Spencer Dinwiddie as the sixth man despite not playing against the Suns, and he couldn’t get anything going early. Dinwiddie was scoreless in the first half, but got things going in the third quarter.

In the third quarter alone, Dinwiddie finished with 11 points while shooting 3-4 from downtown, finally starting to gain some confidence and rhythm. His three-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 couldn’t find reliable scoring off the bench for the game against Phoenix and the first half of the game against Utah, and Dinwiddie was able to break his early funk and show how valuable he can be to this team.

Dallas’ bench scores were undoubtedly one of the team’s biggest concerns before Monday night’s win, and Dinwiddie’s performance helped alleviate some of those concerns.

Despite making his presence felt on defense, Naji Marshall has yet to have his full offensive coming out party. Marshall is shooting 26.6 percent from the field this year and hasn’t been able to get rhythm threes going. His shots from downtown are usually 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 offense in Dallas, and even linked their situation to what happened to Kyrie Irving when he was first traded to the Mavs. It took him some time to get going, and the patience paid off for the Mavs when Irving finally fit seamlessly next to Luka Doncic.

Dallas got lucky when it came to how quickly Washington and Daniel Gafford fit in, and Grimes and Marshall will eventually find their place in the Mavs system, but it will just take time.

Until then, Kidd will have to continue experimenting with different lineups and combinations until they find a reliable and consistent score off the bench. The start of the season is the perfect time to do this, and Kidd has plenty of time to nail down his nightly rotation.

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

Dinwiddie is one of the team’s fan favorites as he had a great stint in Dallas before the current one, and his performance against the Minnesota Timberwolves continues tomorrow.