The Dallas Mavericks defeated a depleted New Orleans Pelicans team 132-91 on Tuesday night. The matchup was the second NBA Cup game for both teams, with the Mavs currently 0-1 in Cup qualifiers while the Pelicans are 1-0. With both teams being in Western Group C, not to mention being in the same Division, there was a little extra motivation for both teams in this one. While the Mavericks moved toward a healthier roster with the recent returns of PJ Washington, Dereck Lively and Luka Doncic, the Pelicans unfortunately couldn’t say the same when playing without Zion Williamson, CJ McCollum, Dejounte Murray, Jose Alvarado and others. Under the collective circumstances, this was actually a must-win for the Mavericks and they came out swinging. Difficult. Yes, the Pelicans were exhausted and yes, they made a small push at halftime, but the Mavs took care of business in a big way and that’s exactly what they need to do with opportunities like this. Let’s get to the numbers!

Luka Doncic: B+

26 points / 5 rebounds / 5 assists / 3 steals / 1 block

Doncic started the festivities with back-to-back steals that he took the other way for layups to give the Mavs an early 4-0 lead to set the tone. He had active hands all night, forcing turnovers that weren’t necessarily attributed to him, shooting a blistering 10-for-16 from the floor. His three-point shooting showed cold-blooded ruthlessness, but also some questionable shots that didn’t quite fit the flow of the offense. His three turnovers left something to be desired in that area, especially as one ball led to complaints and another technical foul.

Kyrie Irving: A-

18 points / 1 rebound / 7 assists / 0 steals / 0 blocks

Let’s get it out of the way immediately. The figure is probably a bit high for Irving’s performance in a slightly truncated 27 minutes. That said, he gets a bump (again) for his shooting percentages (54.5% from the floor; 4-for-5 on threes) and how and when he does what he does. He was on his game day in and day out, and when this game got a little close, he nailed back-to-back devastating threes that turned things back in the Mavs’ favor.

Klay Thompson: A-

19 points / 4 rebounds / 1 assist / 2 steals / 0 blocks

Thompson did what he was brought here to do, plus a little extra. 5-for-9 from three with a nice rebound and two nice steals was a well-rounded game over 24 minutes of play. Although they weren’t actual assists, Thompson had two great passes to a wide-open PJ Washington in the first quarter, but neither three-point attempt would fail. Either way, this is the kind of heady play that won’t show up in the stats, but will yield huge wins over a larger sample size.

Naji Marshall: A-

15 points / 0 rebounds / 3 assists / 3 steals / 0 blocks

I’m very excited about Naji Marshall and what he brings to the team right now. He simply adds a dimension that the Mavs didn’t have last year, with his ball handling and his finishing on little flip and push shots around the rim. I rechecked the box score several times to make sure he hadn’t counted rebounds in this game, but perhaps this game is the objective lesson of how what you see and what logs in the box score can sometimes seem very different – it certainly felt like Marshall did everything tonight, even if he left the rebound column empty.

Quentin Grimes: A

12 points / 8 rebounds / 3 assists / 0 steals / 1 block

Grimes seems to be getting into the swing of things and doing everything he was brought here to do. In the first quarter alone, he had a great streak under the basket, hitting a three in the natural flow of the offense and nailing a buzzer beater to push the Mavs’ first quarter scoring total to 44 points. For someone who averages 2.5 rebounds per game, he’s had some nice games on the board lately, with tonight being a season high (8). 5-for-9 shooting (2-for-3 on threes) is exactly what the Mavs expected and needed from a 3-and-D player like Grimes.

Daniel Gafford: B

11 points / 6 rebounds / 0 assists / 0 steals / 0 blocks

Gafford’s stats don’t jump off the page here, but he went an efficient 5-for-7 and had a strong game. His rebounding rate wasn’t huge, but he was clearly on the hunt and did a better job of securing the ball than in a recent game. Overall, he had a fun game with a little more impact than his stats indicate.

Dereck Lively II: B

9 points / 7 rebounds / 3 assists / 1 steal / 0 blocks

Like Gafford, Lively has put in a solid body of work that wasn’t particularly notable in the stats, but probably had a more beneficial impact on the game than it initially seemed. The middle tandem somehow recorded zero blocks combined, but certainly converted multiple shots and held off the backline defense in a blowout win.

PJ Washington: C+

4 points / 6 rebounds / 1 assist / 1 steal / 2 blocks

Washington had a nice defensive game, highlighted by a beautiful strip under the hoop that he then saved from an outside line, but his 2-for-9 shooting and four fouls left room for improvement. Even on a sub-par night, his presence has a positive impact when you think back to how the team looked in the games he sat out due to injury.

Maxi Kleber: A-

2 points / 6 rebounds / 0 assists / 0 steals / 2 blocks

Kleber had one of those games where the intangibles contributed greatly to his grade. His stats were nothing to write home about, but if you watched the game you could see that he had nothing but a positive impact. He grabbed rebounds emphatically, played exceptional defense in all the ways not included in the box score, and had two really nice blocks. His team-leading plus-30 matched his performance.

Jaden Hardy: B+

11 points / 2 rebounds / 3 assists / 0 steals / 0 blocks

Hardy hasn’t always been the best finisher, but has started driving harder and dunking a bit more lately. He had a nice play to break the defense for a drive and dunk, which opened him up for a nice turnaround jumper a few possessions later. He lets the game take over more and makes the most of his opportunities. His shooting percentage wasn’t impressive tonight, but it felt like he had at least three clear no-calls against him on drives to the hoop. No one else was to blame for his missed alley-oop in the fourth quarter, but he had a nice jam a few minutes later.