However, Caron had started to do so before he went down with an injury. About a month, maybe a month and a half, of accepting his role and flourishing with the reduced responsibilities.
I agree. Whenever people say "Chandler was the Mavs 2nd best", or "kidd", or Marion, really the Mavs lost their second best player when Butler went down.
And you knew it too. Whenever the Mavs were talking about possibly winning a chip, they'd say they wanted to win it for Caron. They knew what they were missing, even if we didn't.