When it was announced that Luka Doncic would at least miss due to a wrist injury, everyone expected Kyrie Irving to carry the Dallas Mavericks until Doncic returned. But in the two games the Doncic has missed (OKC Thunder on Sunday, Denver Nuggets on Friday), the committee has stepped up to score big wins over some of the best teams in the West.

On Friday night, Naji Marshall poured in a career-high 26 points and lifted the Mavs up when they needed it most. He was also 3/4 from the three-point line after starting the game and shot 13.3% from three. He had made only four threes total season and hit three in this game alone.

Marshall was 11/15 from the floor and continued the trend of being lethal inside the arc. He is now one of three non-centers shooting better than 65% on two-pointers on more than five attempts per game. The other players are Josh Hart and Elfrid Payton, who have played in two games.

READ MORE: Mavericks Survive Nuggets’ Rally in Nikola Jokic’s Return, 123-120

In Marshall’s first six games as a Maverick, he played just over 18 MPG and scored 3.3 PPG. In his last ten games, he has achieved almost 27 MPG and an average of 14.2 PPG. Now that he’s settled in, it’s helped the Mavericks find consistent production off the bench.

Dallas’ bench started out as one of the worst scoring benches in the NBA, but eventually became a major reason why they were able to beat the Denver Nuggets on the road on Friday night, scoring 57 points compared to Denver’s 24 bench points and Naji Marshall was the main contributor.

With Doncic out for at least a few more games, players like Maji Marshall will have to continue to rise in the scoring column.

READ MORE: Mavericks’ Luka Doncic drops out of latest NBA MVP ladder

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