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DALLAS — Cooper Flagg scored a season-high 43 points and Kyrie Irving added 35 on Monday night, the second night of a back-to-back for the Dallas Mavericks. Dallas trailed the Indiana Pacers by 13 points late in the first half at American Airlines Center and came back to win 125-122.
Flagg shot 16-of-25 from the field, 3-of-6 from 3-point range, and 8-of-8 at the free-throw line, finishing with 43 points, 10 rebounds, and 6 assists. His previous season high was 33. The 10 rebounds tied his season high, and 30 of his points came after halftime, including 16 in the fourth quarter.
On the other side of the backcourt, Irving made 7 of his 10 3-point attempts and finished with 35 points and 4 assists in 38 minutes. Dallas outscored Indiana by 29 points with him on the floor. The two combined for 78 points, and the win was the Mavericks’ third straight, all of them at home.
Indiana got 47 points from its bench to Dallas’ 26. Mavericks coach Dusty May said Flagg looks stronger and more determined when it is winning time.
“Very good win for us in the homestand,” May said. “Our two guys, superstars, obviously made play after play after play. I thought, especially in the fourth quarter, we sat down and were able to contain the basketball a little bit better than we did the first three. Indiana, they’re a tough cover. They rarely let you get your defense set.”
“They put so much pressure on the paint, and then they play well together and spray it out,” May continued. “And I thought their bench was incredible tonight for them, and just a good win against a great organization, a well-coached team, and a bunch of guys that we have a lot of respect for.”
Irving and Flagg keep telling each other there is another level they can reach, and Irving said the pressure on Flagg coming off his rookie season is something he wants to take on himself as a veteran. The 34-year-old guard said it all starts with the two of them.
“Obviously, it leads into other avenues that other guys can take advantage of,” Irving said. “So we’re just trying to put ourselves in the right positions out there and have fun playing basketball. And I think when you see us displaying that it’s us having fun and starts on the defensive end, and then when you see us getting out in transition, it’s just a beautiful game to watch because he makes the game easy. I make the game easy.”
Pascal Siakam Scores 26 Before Halftime, Then 3 After It
Indiana led 31-26 after one quarter. Flagg had 9 points, 5 rebounds, and all 3 of his steals in the first, each of them against T.J. McConnell, and one of them led to the fast-break dunk that gave Dallas its first lead at 24-23. The Pacers answered with 8 straight points to close the period, finished by a 31-foot 3-pointer from Quenton Jackson.
Irving scored 12 points in the second quarter on 4-of-4 shooting, all three of his 3-point tries going in. His 28-footer with 5:35 left in the half put Dallas ahead 48-45. Indiana closed the half on a 21-8 run behind Pascal Siakam, who scored 10 points in less than two minutes and hit a 23-foot 3-pointer for a 63-50 lead with 1:36 left. The Pacers led 66-56 at halftime after shooting 60% from the field.
Siakam had 26 points at the break on 8-of-9 shooting, including 5-of-6 from 3-point range. He finished with 29 points, 9 rebounds, and 8 assists, going 1-of-7 after halftime. In the first half, May said, Dallas defenders were close enough to Siakam but were not getting a hand into his shot line.
“I thought our gap presentation was much better in his isolations,” May explained. “In the first half, it felt like we were close enough, but we weren’t impacting the shot line. He was able just to raise his shot up without us impacting the line of a shot. And then the second half, I felt like we kind of got underneath him, and then we had much better gap help.”
“And then just really the guy on the ball did a good job, but also the other four,” May added. “And then he was able to get into the mid post. I thought our rotations were clean. We doubled him from the baseline side early in the game, and he picked us apart. We came from the top side, and our rotations, other than one time, were pretty clean, and it worked out well for us.”
Dallas outscored Indiana 34-27 in the third quarter as Flagg went 6-of-6 from the field for 14 points. Caleb Martin drew a technical foul with 8:30 left in the period. Santi Aldama scored on a driving hook and a fast-break layup on back-to-back trips to cut the deficit to 81-77, and Irving’s driving layup with 3:40 left tied the game at 84. Indiana still led 93-90 after three quarters.
Aldama finished with 10 points and 4 rebounds in 19 minutes. On defense, the forward said, Dallas wanted to do the opposite of what an offense does with a hot hand.
“I think in the first half, he got going, and then we were mindful of, when on offense you want to find the hot hand, on defense you want to do the opposite,” Aldama said. “We were just there, we were communicating, we knew where our help was, and we were just being aggressive, we were being physical.”
The Mavericks outrebounded Indiana 43-27, grabbed 10 offensive rebounds to the Pacers’ 1, and won the second-chance scoring 16-3. Rebounding like that gives Dallas a chance to win every night for P.J. Washington, who had 13 points and 9 rebounds.
“That’s something we put our hats on each and every night,” Washington said. “And it’s crashing the offensive glass, and obviously just get better on the defensive glass.”
The last four games have been the Mavericks’ best on the offensive glass this season, and Aldama said a lot of it comes down to will.
“We want it,” Aldama explained. “Last three games have been amazing. Four now, actually. So last four games we’ve been an elite offensive rebounding team, and we just got to keep doing it. I think it’s obviously we work on it, but like just a lot of will. You want to come up with the ball, 50-50 ball. It’s ours.”
The 10 offensive rebounds were fewer than Dallas had been averaging. May said the Mavericks were attacking matchups and looking for the short roll, and late in the game they were getting the ball to their stars rather than running cutters.
“And so we didn’t have cutting, and then obviously when Gaff plays less than 20 minutes, that’s a big part of our offensive rebounding,” May said. “And Morez, another one being out, that’s probably the difference in us averaging 16 and getting 10. It’s probably just a personnel deal.”
Cooper Flagg, Kyrie Irving Close It Out In The Fourth Quarter
Flagg opened the fourth quarter with a 26-foot pull-up 3-pointer that tied the game at 93. Irving’s 23-footer with 9:36 left gave Dallas a 98-97 lead, the game’s final lead change, and he made all three free throws after being fouled on a 3-point try at 8:30. Daniel Gafford converted a cutting layup from Flagg into a three-point play for a 106-99 lead.
Indiana got within 110-108 on a 28-foot 3-pointer from Jarace Walker. Flagg answered with a 24-foot 3-pointer off an Irving pass, and Washington’s free throw with 4:19 left made it 116-108, the Mavericks’ largest lead. Washington blocked two shots in the quarter.
The Pacers scored the next 5 points. Flagg and Naji Marshall each missed a driving layup during that stretch, Obi Toppin finished a fast-break layup, and Andrew Nembhard completed a three-point play to make it 116-113 with 2:45 left. Dallas did not score again until Marshall’s 3-foot floater from Irving with 1:24 remaining.
Marshall created the window on that floater, May said, and Irving made the pass. The short-roll action Dallas ran with Martin had worked in the first half and stalled once he went to the bench.
“That short-roll action was really clicking in the first half with Caleb, and when Caleb would go out, we weren’t able to get to it as well,” May said. “And I thought Naji created the window. Kai made an excellent pass, and then, but even the two possessions prior to that, we got to the rim. Coop got to the rim, and Naji got to the rim. They both got there and made really good plays, and the ball just didn’t drop.”
“We probably, at that point, we were thinking about spreading the floor again and just trying to open up the driving lanes,” May continued. “But we ran some very simple actions just to get Coop on the left side of the floor, and obviously he just did his thing.”
Aaron Nesmith scored 9 of his 18 points in the fourth. He made three free throws after Flagg fouled him on a 3-point attempt with 1:14 left, cutting the lead to 118-116. Flagg hit an 18-foot pull-up on the next trip. Nesmith answered with a 3-pointer, and after Marshall split two free throws, Flagg hit another 18-foot pull-up with 26.3 seconds left for a 123-119 lead.
Nesmith’s 25-foot pull-up 3-pointer made it 123-122. Irving made two free throws with 18 seconds left, and Nesmith missed a 3-point try that would have tied it. Washington missed two free throws with 4 seconds left after Siakam fouled him on purpose, and Martin stole Nembhard’s inbounds pass with 0.9 seconds to go. Dallas made 16-of-20 free throws in the fourth quarter.
Both of Flagg’s late jumpers were 18-foot pull-ups. Stopping short and rising over defenders takes some of the load off his body, Flagg said, instead of driving all the way to the rim against 7-footers every night.
“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.”
From the defender’s side, Aldama said, those shots can look like good defense and still 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.”
Irving’s plus-29 was the best mark in the game. May said one-game plus-minus can be overblown, and the first half was a stretch when Dallas generated good looks and still looked flat.
“His plus-29 tonight was very indicative of how important he is,” May said. “When we were struggling to make shots, and the first half we thought we were generating really good looks, and we just looked a little bit flat. And I thought Kai’s shot-making just kind of righted the ship for us. And we came out in the third quarter and were able to get over the hump a little bit, but he just makes tough shots.”
“I mean, he’s able to hang in the paint and finish, and the same, just like Coop,” May noted. “They’re so unselfish, and they’re such good teammates that winning is the priority over everything.”
Irving sat out the second night of Dallas’ first back-to-back on Oct. 24 against the San Antonio Spurs. After Sunday’s 130-93 win over the Brooklyn Nets, he told teammates in the locker room that he planned to play.
“So it was just settling our team and just being prepared for whatever the Indiana Pacers was going to throw at us, and we’re going to be there together,” Irving explained. “So obviously we didn’t have Morez tonight. We still have some few guys out, but we have guys returning in. I think it’s very important for me to be prepared, whether I’m playing or not, in the back-to-backs.”
Dallas played without Morez Johnson Jr., who has a left shin contusion and had come off the bench in all 10 games, averaging 7.6 points and 5.1 rebounds. Dereck Lively II (right foot surgery), Sergio De Larrea (right knee sprain), and Tarik Biberović (right heel bursitis) were also out. Flagg said Aldama stepped up with Johnson unavailable.
“Every night is going to be somebody else’s night, and we know that’s our identity, and we’re making the right plays, and no matter what, we’re trusting each other,” Flagg explained. “So tonight, me and Kai had it going, and there’s hopefully going to be a lot of nights like that. We’re able to do our thing, but it’s a next-man mentality. No Morez tonight. I thought Santi stepped up, played really, really well.”
Indiana played without Tyrese Haliburton (left hamstring strain), Johnny Furphy (right ACL repair), and Ben Sheppard (left meniscus surgery). Ivica Zubac scored 16 points, Kelly Oubre Jr. had 14 off the bench, and Nembhard finished with 12 points and 12 assists. The Pacers out-assisted Dallas 35-26.
Both teams shot better than 51% from the field. Dallas went 43-of-83 (51.8%) and 14-of-34 (41.2%) from 3-point range, while Indiana shot 43-of-82 (52.4%) and 15-of-35 (42.9%) from deep. The Mavericks also won the season series 2-0 after beating the Pacers 121-105 in Indianapolis on Oct. 23.
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, before stops in Cleveland on Nov. 14 and Boston on Nov. 15. Indiana (3-8) hosts the Washington Wizards on Wednesday.
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