Over the past three games, the Dallas Mavericks have seen what Jalen Brunson is capable of when he can get on the court. After a DNP-CD against the Portland Trail Blazers on December 4th, Brunson turned in a nice showing off the bench during a blowout loss to the New Orleans Pelicans on the 5th.
The injury to Dennis Smith Jr. forced Rick Carlisle to make a bit of a change to the starting lineup and, unlike before when he plugged Dorian Finney-Smith in for whoever was out, Carlisle elected to go with a second ball-handler in Brunson.