‘Ups And Downs’: Cooper Flagg Bounces Back From 1-Of-11 First Half With 15 Points After Break In Dallas Mavericks’ Loss To San Antonio Spurs

SAN ANTONIO — After going 1-of-11 from the field in the first half Wednesday night, Cooper Flagg scored 15 points on 6-of-8 shooting after halftime. The Dallas Mavericks still lost 112-111 to the San Antonio Spurs at Frost Bank Center, but Flagg was plus-18 in the second half.

He finished with 19 points, 10 rebounds, and 5 assists on 7-of-19 shooting and went 5-of-7 at the free-throw line in 40:02, the most minutes of any Dallas player. Flagg was the only Mavericks starter with a positive plus-minus for the game, at plus-2.

Flagg had 4 rebounds and no assists in the first half, then 6 rebounds and 5 assists in 22:53 after the break. He went 3-of-5 at the free-throw line after halftime.

“I thought the same thing in the first half. I thought he was making shots that he had made all year up to that point, and they just weren’t dropping for him,” Mavericks coach Dusty May said. “But I thought he just got lost in rebounding, and I thought he made great passes. I thought he played really well in just a really good floor game in the second half.”

Cooper Flagg Goes 6-Of-8 After Halftime

Victor Wembanyama blocked Flagg twice in the first quarter, on an 11-foot pullup on Dallas’ second possession and a transition layup with 1:28 left, and again on an 8-foot floater with 3:51 left in the second. Flagg had 4 points at halftime, and his 2 first-quarter points both came at the free-throw line.

In the third quarter, he scored 7 points on 3-of-4 shooting, including a transition dunk off a Kyrie Irving pass. He added 8 points, 4 rebounds, and 3 assists in the fourth. With 6:05 left, Flagg finished an alley-oop from Caleb Martin and made the free throw to tie the game at 100. His driving finger roll with 2:54 left cut San Antonio’s lead to 107-106.

Flagg also set up both of Naji Marshall’s biggest fourth-quarter shots, a three-pointer that cut the deficit to 94-92 with 8:17 left and another that tied the game at 111 with 1:41 left. On the final possession, Dallas had Flagg cutting from the corner while Irving drove middle.

Flagg, the first overall pick in 2025 and the 2025-26 Rookie of the Year, scored 17 points on 3-of-19 shooting in Monday’s 115-100 loss to the Sacramento Kings. He missed the first meeting with San Antonio on Oct. 24 with a left shoulder sprain.

Kyrie Irving, Dusty May On Flagg’s Second Half

Irving pointed to the plus-minus column when he talked about Flagg. Dallas’ other four starters finished at 0 or below.

“He’s going to go through ups and downs just like every other professional. It doesn’t take away from his talent or his skill set or what he’s capable of doing,” Irving said. “He’s just got to figure it out, and we’ve got to do a better job as teammates of giving him that support. 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.”

“I think he started to do that in the second half, and you look at the plus-minus, I mean, he was plus-two, pretty much out of the starting five,” Irving continued. “So he was giving us what the game needs, and I think we’ll only see him get better from these last two games.”

Irving listed Flagg among the Dallas leaders responsible for the identity the Mavericks are trying to build. San Antonio scored 32 points in the first quarter and 36 in the second.

“In the first half, they had full control of the momentum and rhythm. And I feel like in the second half, we buckled down, started building towards that identity, like I said, that we’re trying to get for ourselves. So it starts with me. It starts with Dusty. It starts with Coop. It starts with some of the other leaders on the team,” Irving explained. “But to start off the game and give two quarters up, 32 and 36, that’s not where we wanna be.”

The final play called for Irving to drive middle against De’Aaron Fox, May said, with Flagg cutting from the corner.

“I just wanted to give him a double gap. We had Fox on him and wanted to get a drive middle and Coop cutting from the corner,” May explained. “Just felt like we had an advantage in space and probably attacked a little bit too late.”

Dallas (4-4) hosts the Utah Jazz on Friday at American Airlines Center at 7 p.m. CT.