In this article
DALLAS — With 62 seconds left Monday night and the Dallas Mavericks up two, Cooper Flagg pulled up from 18 feet and scored. He did it again with 26.3 seconds left, and Dallas held on to beat the Indiana Pacers 125-122 at American Airlines Center.
Flagg finished with a season-high 43 points on 16-of-25 shooting, adding 10 rebounds, 6 assists, and 3 steals. His previous season high was 33. He went 8-of-8 at the free-throw line and scored 30 of his points after halftime, including 16 in the fourth quarter.
Make or miss, Flagg said, his teammates trust him when he gets to those spots. The two late jumpers came out of what Mavericks coach Dusty May called very simple actions to get Flagg on the left side of the floor.
“Just all the work all summer long,” Flagg said. “Just preparing myself to be in those moments down the stretch, limited space, limited dribbles, and be able to come out with a bucket and a good comfortable shot.”
Cooper Flagg On The Summer Spot Work Behind His Mid-Range Game
Five of Flagg’s 16 field goals were jumpers from 10 to 18 feet, according to the official play-by-play. In the third quarter alone, he went 6-of-6 from the field for 14 points, including a 10-foot turnaround and a 15-foot pull-up in the first 74 seconds of the half.
Entering Monday, Flagg was shooting 55.8% on 2-point attempts and 26.2% from 3-point range through nine games. The pull-up game lets him pace himself and steal some easy ones, Flagg said, instead of driving into contact on every trip.
“I think just to get to my spots at a higher level and being more comfortable with that has allowed me to take a little bit of load off my body, just kind of stopping short, raising up over people,” Flagg explained. “It’s taxing going downhill all the way to the rim and trying to finish over seven-footers all night every night. So I think just adding that in there, it definitely allows me to pace myself a little bit. Steal some easy ones.”
“But then again, just trusting the work, trusting the spot work that I put in all summer long, and just being so comfortable with those shots,” Flagg continued. “And I think it goes back to my teammates who are just trusting me with make or miss. Get into those spots. That mindset that no matter what, as long as I’m getting the shot that I’m comfortable with, that it’s going to be a good outcome for our team.”
Santi Aldama spent his first five NBA seasons with the Memphis Grizzlies before joining Dallas, and Monday was his third game with the Mavericks. As a defender, he said, you can think you played it well and still watch it go in.
“I mean, he takes some shots and he makes them, and you sometimes wonder why and wonder how,” Aldama said. “It’s tough because as a defender, you’re thinking like, hey, it was pretty good defense. But with these guys, like that amount of talent, like there’s just no stopping it. So whenever he gets to his spot, like today, just felt like everything was going in, and we love him to take those shots, and like it’s easier that way.”
Flagg came into the night averaging 7.1 free-throw attempts and making 89.1% of them. May said Flagg is getting to the line more than he has, and that being almost a left-handed player in the paint helps him as a scorer.
“I mean, he gets to the rim,” May said. “I think him almost being a left-handed player in the paint certainly helps. He’s a great left-footed jumper, left-handed finisher, and then he’s able to square in the air from 15, 17 feet. He can just get to his spots, and if there’s a smaller guy, he can jump and just square in the air over them.”
“The last couple games, he’s made some threes and he’s making all his free throws, so that’s how you put up the 43 points where you do a little bit of everything,” May added. “But he finished at the mid range, he finished at the rim, he got to the line, he’s getting to the line more than he has. But he just affects the game in so many ways that he makes the right plays as far as passing. So thank goodness he’s on our team. It’s unbelievable he’s a 19-year-old doing this.”
Dusty May Calls Flagg An Elite Competitor At 19
Monday was the second night of a back-to-back, one night after a 130-93 win over the Brooklyn Nets. Flagg played 38 minutes, 52 seconds, including every minute of the first and fourth quarters. He also committed 5 turnovers.
“You just see a guy that just continues to evolve and get better, and he looks stronger,” May explained. “He looks more determined when it’s winning time, and you just see he’s impacting every possession, rebounding-wise, and he made a couple defensive errors. I’m sure he’ll be disappointed in that, he’s going to clean up. But man, just the way he impacts every possession.”
“I think probably the mental fatigue of being so engaged is probably tougher than the physical fatigue for the 19-year-old, but those guys have to fight for every catch,” May continued. “They’re the top of every scouting report. So for them to do that against a team like Indiana and have the cumulative effort that they did, it’s impressive.”
The first overall pick in the 2025 NBA Draft turns 20 on Dec. 21. Asked about producing at his age, Flagg went back to how he was raised.
“I think it just speaks to the type of basketball that I’ve always played and how I was raised, just being a true competitor,” Flagg said. “I think whenever I get out there on the court, it just goes back to being a competitor and trying to make as many possible winning plays as I can, and trying to make the easy, right basketball play out there. So, just speaks to that, and my teammates putting me in good positions, my coaches trusting me to go out there and make plays.”
Earlier in the homestand, May described Aldama as a psycho competitor. On Monday he drew a line between the two.
“I would call Coop an elite competitor,” May said. “Santi has the crazy eyes when he’s competing. Coop just stays in his just full-fledged win mode. Sorry, Santi.”
Kyrie Irving, who scored 35, said most young players would move away from contact. The newer generation coming into the league fears nothing, Irving said, and Flagg falls right in line with it.
Dallas (7-4) opens a three-game road trip Thursday against the Minnesota Timberwolves at Target Center, with tip-off at 7 p.m. CT.
Join the conversation