CLEVELAND — Kyrie Irving said Saturday night that it is his job to take pressure off Cooper Flagg, after Flagg shot 6-of-19 in the Dallas Mavericks’ 127-117 loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers at Rocket Arena.
Flagg finished with 18 points, 8 rebounds, and 5 assists in 38 minutes. He missed all six of his 3-point attempts, was 4-of-13 from the field through three quarters, and went 6-of-8 at the free-throw line. He did not commit a turnover.
The game came five days after Flagg scored a season-high 43 points with 10 rebounds and 6 assists in a 125-122 win over Indiana. Flagg and Irving combined for 78 points that night.
Flagg’s previous game in Cleveland came as a rookie on March 15, when he had 27 points and 10 assists in a 130-120 Dallas win.
Kyrie Irving Says Cooper Flagg Is Not Alone
Irving, 34, scored 34 points on 11-of-25 shooting Saturday. He said the physical attention on Flagg, now in his second NBA season, is part of being battle tested.
“He’s in his sophomore year. I think I said in the beginning of the season as well, he has a target on his back. He knows that,” Irving said. “It’s my job to alleviate a lot of the pressure that he feels. But he’s just being battle tested. Teams are getting up in his chest. Teams are being physical, and this is the time where we all got to fight back together, and it’s not just on him. It’s obviously we got to bring the best out of him too, and he’s got to bring the best out of himself.”
Irving included himself among the Mavericks who need to find Flagg easier looks, instead of asking him to start every action.
“But most importantly, he’s not alone out there, and we got to do a better job, including myself, get him going, and not so much of a putting the responsibility on him to initiate every single action,” Irving continued. “He does a great job of doing it, but now we just got to get him some easy ones to get him going. And he’s going to do a great job over his next few games, so I’m not worried. But every sophomore in the league goes through it at some point in the season.”
Dallas ran 30 possessions through the pick-and-roll ball handler and scored 27 points, according to Synergy Sports data. The Mavericks scored 27 points on 23 transition possessions.
Irving Says The Film Will Help Flagg
Flagg scored 5 points in the fourth quarter, including a three-point play with 28.3 seconds left that set the final margin. He also had a 2-for-2 trip at the line and a block on Riley Minix in the third quarter.
Irving said the last few games are something Flagg will study, and his role is to keep feeding him confidence.
“And he had a great start to the season. He still is, but these last few games are just things that he’s gonna look back on and film,” Irving explained. “And me as a teammate, it’s just continuing to feed him confidence. And young player coming in, and he’s got to prove himself still every single day.”
Irving had 6 points on 1-of-7 shooting at halftime before scoring 20 in the third quarter and 8 in the fourth. Mavericks coach Dusty May said the attention on Irving is creating looks for others.
“He’s picking his spots, and obviously he’s garnering a lot of attention,” May said. “And I think he’s getting some other guys really good looks, and we just, as a group, we need to play better. We need to shoot better. We definitely need to defend and rebound at a much higher level with more urgency.”
Dallas fell to 7-6 with its second straight loss. The Mavericks finish a back-to-back Sunday against the Boston Celtics at TD Garden. Tip-off is set for 5 p.m. CT.
Join the conversation