The Dallas Mavericks entered Tuesday night’s NBA Cup game against the New Orleans Pelicans with two wins in a row, and a good chance to make it three against a beaten and battered Pels team.

Luka Doncic returned to action on Tuesday and started alongside Kyrie Irving, Klay Thompson, PJ Washington and Dereck Lively II. New Orleans was without Zion Williamson, Dejounte Murray, CJ McCollum, Herb Jones, Jordan Hawkins and Jose Alvarado. Without those bodies, they started Javonte Green, Brandon Boston Jr., Trey Murphy III, Brandon Ingram and Yves Missi.

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Dallas FINALLY got off to a good start to the game, taking a double-digit lead just five minutes into the first quarter. After Luka Doncic opened the game with back-to-back baskets, Klay Thompson, Quentin Grimes and Kyrie Irving began making shot-for-shot plays to extend the Mavs’ lead. Before the Pelicans could even blink, the Mavericks had put up 44 points in the first quarter, easily their best opening quarter of the season.

And leaving it at that doesn’t do it justice. The Mavs shot 17/24 (70.8%) from the floor and 6/10 from three. We had all been waiting to see the Mavs start the game with some energy and this was the first chance, leading 44-29 heading into the second quarter.

The second quarter would still be all Dallas as they would extend the lead to 23 just four minutes into the quarter after a reverse lob finish for Dereck Lively II. New Orleans hit a few shots to cut the lead to 15 a few times as Javonte Green tried to keep the Pels in the game, but PJ Washington played great defense and acted as a playmaker in the middle of the floor.

New Orleans was forced to play zone due to their depth issues, and with playmakers as talented as Kyrie Irving and Luka Doncic, that didn’t lead to much success other than slowing the game down a bit. A technical foul on Doncic and a late foul in transition on Irving allowed the Pelicans to pull ahead slightly, with the Mavericks taking a 63-51 lead at halftime.

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The second half was more of the same for the Mavericks as they started to hurt the Pelicans. Kyrie Irving had a period near the end of the third quarter where he simply couldn’t miss from three. Dallas simply continued to build on the lead, going up by 28 after a transition layup from Grimes.

In the fourth quarter, Dallas was so big that they pulled most of the starters early and let the guys at the end of the bench play a role. With no one playing more than 30 minutes for the Mavericks, they ultimately won 132-91. Point differential matters in the NBA Cup, so a 41-point win will mean a lot in the long run.

Luka Doncic led the Mavs with 26 points on 10/16 shooting, Klay Thompson had 19 points while making a big play from three, Kyrie Irving had 18 points and seven assists while shooting 4/5 from three, Naji Marshall had 15 points , Quentin Grimes had 12 points and eight rebounds, Daniel Gafford had 11 points and six rebounds and Jaden Hardy had 11 points. It was just a solid all-around scoring game from everyone on the Mavs. This was the second straight game in which the Mavs had seven players in double figures, and this is their third straight win after four straight losses.

Dallas shot 14/31 from three and 20/25 from the free throw line, which was good to see them shooting the ball so well after struggling at certain points in the season.

Trey Murphy III led the Pelicans with 19 points and Brandon Ingram wasn’t far behind with 17.

Dallas travels back to Denver on Friday to play the Nuggets for their next game.

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