Through the first seven games of the season, slow starts had been the Dallas Mavericks’ kryptonite.

They could seemingly never come out of the gate hot, and a lot of that fell on the shoulders of Luka Doncic. Mavs fans are used to Doncic being the king of the first quarter and setting the tone right away, but that wasn’t the case this season.

Over the first seven games, Doncic averaged 8.1 points per game in the first quarter, but his field goal percentage was way down. He shot just 35.4 percent from the field and 21.1 percent from downtown in those seven games, but he made a big change Wednesday night against the Chicago Bulls.

Instead of calling his own number and forcing shots early, Doncic deferred to Kyrie Irving early in this game and that did wonders for the team’s offense. Irving finished with 15 points in the first quarter while shooting 6-7 from the field, and his defense and aggressiveness helped set the tone in this game.

Irving was called on right away in this game, and Doncic, who brought Irving into this game early, helped lay the foundation for a great game for both of them. By deferring to Irving early, Doncic was able to let his offensive game come to him and get his passing going. Doncic finished with eight points and five assists while shooting from downtown to make it 2-2, and the lob game finally started rolling for Dallas.

Doncic didn’t settle for the same long twos he did in the first two games, and taking over the game with Irving is something the Mavs should use more often. It doesn’t always have to be just Doncic taking over the game in the first quarter, and Dallas brought in Irving to take some of the burden off his shoulders.

Doncic shouldn’t feel like he has to take control of every game early to win, and the win over the Bulls was proof of that. Dallas also got Klay Thompson involved early in this game, and that’s something they’ve needed to do for a while. Thompson’s limited offensive role early in games certainly hurt Dallas, and his five points on five shots in the first quarter were a good step in the right direction to ensure Dallas gets him involved consistently right away.

Doncic and Irving’s dominant start helped the Mavs to a 119-99 victory over the Bulls to improve to 2-2 in the home stands and 5-3 on the year, and their first quarter performance helped set the perfect blueprint explain how they should approach the beginning of the game in the future.

Doncic is at his best when he lets the play come to him and responds to what the defense throws at him, and that’s how he had this dominant game. He played at his pace and took over the game with his play, and Chicago had no answers for him.

When he and Irving are playing at their top level offensively, they are extremely difficult to stop. Irving mucked to the rim whenever he wanted, and he remains unstoppable when shooting threes after a jab step.

Doncic finished with 27 points, seven rebounds and 13 assists for the night while shooting 8-19 from the field, marking the first time all season that he took fewer than 20 shots in a game. Irving finished with 17 points, six rebounds and three steals that night, and although he cooled off after the first quarter, he was a big reason Dallas was able to pull out the victory.

This was the highest-scoring first quarter we’ve ever seen during Irving’s Mavs tenure, as he finished with 15 points in the first quarter, and Dallas needs more starts like this to move forward. He can take over the game at any time, and while this usually happens in the second half, his early takeover against the Bulls was a huge change for the better.