When the Dallas Mavericks pulled off the blockbuster trade to acquire Kristaps Porzingis from the New York Knicks last season, they did so knowing it was a bit of a gamble. At that point, Porzingis was still recovering from a torn ACL, and no one knew what he would look like once he got healthy. But the Mavericks took the risk because of Porzingis' obvious talent, and the potential he could form a dynamic partnership with Luka Doncic. 

So far, the results have been impressive. Doncic is playing like an MVP candidate, Porzingis has been solid, if inefficient at times, and the Mavericks are right in the mix for a top-four seed at 31-19. They improved to that mark on Monday night with an impressive road win over the Pacers, 112-103, and they did it without Doncic. 

Their star man is sidelined with a sprained ankle, but Porzingis stepped up in his absence. Pouring in 38 points and 12 rebounds, Porzingis recorded his second straight 35-point, 10-rebound performance, which is more than he had in his entire two-plus seasons with the Knicks. 

Porzingis has turned into a volume 3-point shooter this season, launching 6.5 per game, and it was even more of a focus for him against the Pacers. He knocked down three triples in the first quarter alone, and went on to shoot 6-of-13 from downtown, which tied a career-high. 

Many of them were from well beyond the 3-point line, continuing a trend which has seen Porzingis become one of the most prolific deep 3-point shooters in the league. He takes 5.2 shots per game from 25-plus feet, which is 18th in the league, and the only other true big man ahead of him is Karl-Anthony Towns. Porzingis only makes 33 percent of those attempts, but just by nature of taking them, he creates so much space for the Mavericks' offense. 

But along with his strong 3-point shooting performance, another big game without Doncic in the lineup brings up an additional topic. In the six games that Doncic has missed this season, including Monday night's contest, Porzingis is averaging 27.1 points and 13.1 rebounds, while shooting 48.2 percent from the field and 38.2 percent from 3. Of course, it's with much higher usage, but all of those numbers are well above his regular-season averages. 

Furthermore, for the season, the Mavericks have a plus-4.4 net rating when Doncic and Porzingis are on the court together, and a plus-9.4 net rating with just Porzingis. That's largely a factor of the offense holding steady in Porzingis-only minutes, and the defense being much better. 

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Mavericks' stats this season with Porzingis and Doncic vs. Porzingis by himself NBA.com/Stats

There are all sorts of variables here, and it would take immense amounts of research to go back into the film and catalog the lineups for the Mavericks in these scenarios and the lineups for other teams. And this is obviously not presented to suggest that they're better without Doncic; that's absurd. 

However, it is a positive indicator that Porzingis has been able to handle running the show by himself, which is a great sign for the Mavericks, and he proved it again on Monday night.