Cooper Flagg’s box score against San Antonio still looked respectable on Wednesday night, but the shot chart told the real story. The Mavericks’ young standout finished with 19 points, 10 rebounds and five assists in a 112-111 loss that went down to the final possession, yet he needed 19 shots to get there and went 0-for-3 from beyond the arc.
That was the second straight night Flagg had trouble finding a rhythm as a scorer. Two days earlier against Sacramento, he put up 17 points but shot 3-for-19 from the field and missed all four of his three-point tries. Put those two games together, and he’s 0-for-7 from deep over that stretch.
The numbers around those performances are still strong enough to jump off the page. Over his last two games, Flagg has averaged 18 points, seven rebounds and a little more than five assists. But the production hasn’t matched the standard he’s set for himself, especially with the way he’s carrying Dallas’ offense.
Before Wednesday’s game, Flagg was top 15 in the league in points per game and had been doing most of his work at the rim and in the mid-range while leading the Mavericks in usage rate at 28.6 percent. That kind of responsibility can make every cold stretch feel bigger, and that’s exactly what’s happening now.
Still, the second half against San Antonio showed another side of his game. When the shot wasn’t falling, Flagg kept finding ways to matter. He finished with 10 rebounds and five assists, and Dusty May pointed to the rest of his floor game after the loss.
"I thought he was making shots that he had made all year to that point, and they just weren’t dropping for him," May said. "But I thought he just got lost in rebounding, and I thought he made great passes- just a really good floor game in the second half.
He is doing the little things right."
Flagg’s scoring picked up after halftime, too. He scored 15 of his 19 points in the second half after managing just one point in a first half where he went 1-for-11 and never really got to his spots or established his drive game.
Kyrie Irving, who led Dallas with 29 points, said the rookie has to keep working through nights like this without letting them shake his confidence.
"He is going to go through ups and downs just like every other professional, it doesn’t take away from his talent or what he’s capable of doing," Irving said. "He has the confidence in himself, but I think he knows it’s just a choice that he’s got to make at times, just to go out and be aggressive and seek his own shot."
The Mavericks had their own rally going behind strong second-half play from Marshall and Flagg, but they couldn’t finish it off and fell to 4-4 after dropping their second straight. Dallas had won three in a row to get above .500 for the first time this season before the skid.
San Antonio got the kind of night that can overwhelm almost any opponent. Victor Wembanyama delivered 52 points, 24 rebounds and eight blocks, and the Spurs needed every bit of it to extend their winning streak to six and beat Dallas for the second time this season.
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Livelys situation also has contract implications that go beyond the injury report. The Mavericks declined to offer him a contract extension before the season, so he is now headed toward restricted free agency after the year, with his health and performance set to weigh heavily in whatever comes next. Dallas will have to decide whether to commit long term based on what it sees once he is back on the floor, but for now the most important question remains unanswered. [Read more 🡒]