Sixth man spews at rockets; Thompson passes 2,500 triples

Sometimes it takes a village. Or a selection. Or a group of brothers all willing to pull in the same direction, though so far for the Mavericks they haven’t been able to pull it all at once.

Through the first four games, the Mavericks had four players who could bet on being their most important player off the bench in at least one of those games.

Dereck Lively II has been the most consistent producer in a backup role. But Spencer Dinwiddie, Jaden Hardy and Quentin Grimes have also had games as they provided the key spark that ignited the Mavericks when they needed a jump start. And Naji Marshall is no doubt ready to join the party soon.

The Mavericks are built around three future hall of famers who are great offensive players.

But even that wealth of firepower needs help.

And while teams sometimes rely on one player to be the sixth man and do the bulk of the damage offensively off the bench, the Mavericks haven’t been built that way so far in this season’s infancy.

“We would love to have Jason Terry or that type of player,” coach Jason Kidd said. “It makes it easy because that role is fulfilled.

“We’re trying to get guys to fit their role. We’ve had different looks as we go through this journey to see who feels good in that role.”

Thursday was not very pleasant for someone coming off the bench. And really, the starters were also in the first three quarters, when the Houston Rockets earned as much as a 23-point lead. The Big Three came alive in the fourth quarter, but the Rockets were able to hold on for a 108-102 victory, the Mavericks’ first home loss of the young season.

The Mavericks’ reserves were outscored 33-21 by the Rockets’ bench, not a good sign for a team that considers itself one of the deepest in the NBA.

Aside from this clunker, Lively has been the most reliable bench member so far. He is not necessarily the prototype for scoring off the bench. Usually it’s a guard or small forward who fills the role that Terry did so well for the Mavericks for years, including the 2011 championship.

But the 7-1 center, who splits time with Daniel Gafford but has averaged 26 minutes to Gafford’s 20, has been a force on both ends of the court.

“(He’s) one of the guys who might be a little taller than Jason Terry and might not shoot the three at a high clip, but D-Live is looked at as the sixth man,” Kidd said. “He could be Jason Terry in a different light.”

Another possibility, Kidd said, is Dinwiddie, who had 11 key points in Monday’s 110-102 win over Utah.

“Spencer, he’s a pro,” Kidd said. “When he gets here, he can be the 15th^th guy. He has turned out to be the sixth guy right now. That role may change as we get healthy, or that role may change if someone is out where he could start.

“You need those types of guys on your team to be able to adapt to a role on the fly, and he’s one of those guys who can do that. He’s doing that for us at a high level right now.”

Klay reaches 2,500: With his second three-pointer to pull the Mavericks within 98-94 with less than four minutes remaining, Klay Thompson reached 2,500 career triples.

He becomes the sixth player to hit as many trifectas in NBA history, joining Steph Curry (the leader at 3,758 and counting), Ray Allen, James Harden, Damian Lillard and Reggie Miller.

Thompson will pass Miller for fifth on the list with 61 more three-pointers, which could happen sometime around New Year’s Day.

Rockets grow up: The Rockets are a team built around a handful of good players, none of whom have made the leap to superstardom.

Jalen Green might be trying to change that. He entered Thursday’s game averaging 28.8 points and shooting 41.5 percent from three-point land.

At halftime against the Mavericks, the 6-4 fourth-year guard had just seven points. He warmed up in the second half, and his three-pointer with 1:12 left put the Rockets up 103-97. He would finish with 23 points to go with 12 rebounds.

Behind Green, the Rockets came Thursday with four other players behind Green averaging between 10 and 15 points. That trend continued as they had five players behind Green score between 10 and 17 points.

Short: Dereck Lively II, who lists his favorite movie as Jurassic Park, arrived at the American Airlines Center dressed as one of the dinosaur park workers. . . Dante Exum (right wrist) and Maxi Kleber (right hamstring) remained sidelined for the Mavericks. Kidd gave no timeline for Kleber, saying it was unclear whether the 6-10 center/forward would be able to return for this five-game homestand. Exum is out indefinitely after wrist surgery. . . Rockets coach Ime Udoka had this to say about the Mavericks with Klay Thompson: “That’s another threat out there. Tough enough already with two really good scorers and creators like Irving and Dončić. So another threat that everybody respects. Great addition, another good job by Nico adding to the pieces they already have. Got the lob threats, the scoring threats with those two and the shooting threat now.”

X: @ESefko