The Mavericks didn’t waste any time turning Sunday night into a runaway.
Dallas jumped Brooklyn early and never let the Nets back into the game, rolling to a blowout win behind a huge night from Cooper Flagg. The rookie finished with 25 points and a career-high 12 assists, controlling the action from start to finish and putting together one of the cleanest all-around performances of his young season.
The tone was set quickly. Eight minutes into the game, Dallas had already built a double-digit cushion after a three from Walter Clayton Jr. Brooklyn did manage to finish the first quarter with some life, trimming the margin to four before Flagg answered with a buzzer-beating three to reach 14 points in the opening frame and send the Mavericks into the second with a 7-point lead.
From there, Flagg kept pouring it on. He knocked down a stepback three as Dallas stretched the advantage to 20 early in the second quarter, and the Nets never got closer than 15 the rest of the way. The Mavericks kept stacking timely threes and forcing turnovers, and the game turned into a comfortable cruise.
Dallas is now 6-4 and will host the Indiana Pacers on Monday night.
One of the stranger moments of the night came with Nets forward Noah Clowney, who fouled out in just 7 minutes and 47 seconds without intentionally trying to get there. A lot of that had to do with Mavericks rookie Morez Johnson Jr., who kept making life miserable for him. Johnson shoved Clowney hard in the paint on one play, drawing a technical after review, and Clowney picked up his fifth foul moments later when he forcefully fought through a screen.
Then came the final blow. On an inbounds play, Clowney two-hand shoved Johnson in the chest and was sent off.
Not long after, he picked up a frustration foul on Johnson for his sixth and final foul. Clowney’s night was over in 7:47.
Max Christie was available after returning from a hip injury earlier in the week, but he didn’t enter until the game was already out of reach. His shooting has been rough to start the season, and he wound up seeing garbage-time minutes only.
Josh Minott also had a late sequence that summed up Christie’s struggles, ripping him free of the ball in the fourth quarter. Outside of his shot, there just hasn’t been much upside, and the shot hasn’t been falling.
For a Mavericks team that has too often played down to weaker opponents, this was the kind of response that mattered. After giving the Sacramento Kings their first win of the season earlier this week, Dallas came out and handled business against a Nets team that was missing Egor Denim and Mikel Brown Jr. The only question left was whether the margin got big enough early to spare key players against Indiana on the second night of a back-to-back.
In Other News...
Mavericks Backcourt Problem Just Got Harder To Ignore
The Mavericks backcourt depth is getting tested in a way that makes every absence behind Kyrie Irving feel a little heavier. With backup point guard Sergio De Larrea out because of a right knee sprain, Dallas has had to lean more on its current reserve guards, and Walter Clayton Jr. has helped steady the rotation while the team tries to keep the position from becoming a nightly problem.
De Larrea has already missed six straight games, and the delay in his return only adds to the uncertainty around a group that was already thin. For a team trying to manage its guard minutes carefully, the longer this lingers the more the Mavericks have to rely on patchwork solutions, at least until there is clearer news on when he can get back into the mix. [Read more 🡒]
Mavericks Guard Shakeup Is Creating An Early Rotation Battle
The Mavericks are still sorting out their backcourt mix after Max Christies recent shooting slump and the hip issue that has cut into his availability. In the meantime, Caleb Martin has slid into the starting shooting guard spot and given Dallas a steadier look on the wing, bringing defense and efficient shooting from deep while the coaching staff keeps testing different combinations early in the season.
Walter Clayton Jr. has also entered the conversation as a useful ball-moving option, giving the Mavericks another guard to consider as they evaluate roles and lineups. With Dusty May continuing to experiment, this has become more than a temporary patch job, it is an early rotation battle that could shape how the backcourt settles once the team gets deeper into the schedule. [Read more 🡒]
Kyrie Irving Faces A Big Mavericks Test Against Indiana
The Mavericks took care of business against the Nets, and the payoff was a little extra breathing room before a tougher-looking matchup with Indiana. Kyrie Irving was efficient in the win, scoring 21 points in 29 minutes, and Dallas has settled into a 6-4 start while trying to keep its rotation steady early in the season.
Now the bigger question is how the Mavericks handle the next step in the schedule, with Irving set to face a demanding test in the second game of a back-to-back. Dallas has been careful with its star guard since his ACL injury in March 2025, so this is the kind of night that will say plenty about where he is physically and how the team plans to manage him going forward. [Read more 🡒]