‘Pretty Consistent, Well-Played Quarters’: Dallas Mavericks Rout Brooklyn Nets 130-93 As Cooper Flagg Dishes Career-High 12 Assists
DALLAS — Cooper Flagg handed out a career-high 12 assists Sunday night and scored 25 points on 8-of-13 shooting. The Dallas Mavericks never trailed in a 130-93 win over the Brooklyn Nets at American Airlines Center, taking all four quarters in the first game of a home back-to-back.
Kyrie Irving scored 21 points on 9-of-15 shooting. Daniel Gafford added 18 points on 7-of-8 shooting, 5 rebounds, and 3 blocks in 19 minutes.
Dallas improved to 6-4 with its second straight win. Brooklyn fell to 2-8 after being swept on a back-to-back that opened a four-game road trip.
The Mavericks outrebounded the Nets 46-30 and finished with 31 assists on 48 field goals. The ball movement and the work on the glass stood out to Mavericks coach Dusty May, along with the crowd.
“I think for the first time this year, we strung together four pretty consistent, well-played quarters,” May said. “As far as where we are in the season, a lot of different guys contributed. Thought we shared the ball, thought we did a nice job on the glass, and managed to win the shots battle. And overall, just a good home win in front of our fans.”
Dallas shot a season-best 57.1% from the field and scored its most points of the season. The Mavericks outscored Brooklyn 64-40 in the paint and 26-19 on fast breaks.
Cooper Flagg’s First Half Builds A 66-46 Lead
Two nights earlier, Flagg had 4 points on 2-of-8 shooting in the first half against the Utah Jazz before finishing with 21 in a 112-100 win. He made 5 of his 6 shots in Sunday’s first quarter alone and scored 14 points.
Caleb Martin, making his second straight start, scored the game’s first basket on a running 22-footer 21 seconds in. A 13-2 run later turned a 13-11 game into a 26-13 Dallas lead with 3:33 left in the first quarter, and Irving’s floater capped it.
Michael Porter Jr. answered with three 3-pointers in the final three minutes of the period and scored 15 points in the quarter. Flagg’s 25-foot pull-up with 0.9 seconds left sent the Mavericks into the second quarter ahead 33-26.
Flagg opened the second quarter with a three-point play on a driving dunk. He had 7 assists in the period, and a 10-0 run capped by a Naji Marshall 3-pointer made it 54-32 with 7:09 left in the half.
Dallas led 66-46 at halftime. Flagg’s 20 first-half points were the 16th 20-point half of his career and his first this season.
The Mavericks went in knowing how Brooklyn planned to guard them.
“I think just get to my spots,” Flagg said. “I thought we did a good job of implementing a couple of things. Knowing game plan of how they were gonna guard us, and just trusting the game plan and trusting, get to my spots. Raising up and just finishing up.”
Flagg finished with 5 rebounds. Several came in traffic, May said, and a couple more were tipped to teammates without Flagg getting credit.
“He made some really, really nice plays, good decisions, and then I thought the shot clock three was big for him,” May explained. “Made a really nice individual play and banged it in, and just he played a very consistent game across the board.”
“Even I thought his five rebounds, sometimes you walk in here and you look at the five rebounds … I thought he had several, just rebounds in traffic,” May continued. “And I thought he was up battling and then tipped a couple to his teammates, and he didn’t get the stat, but I thought he was mixing it up on the glass as well tonight as he has all year.”
Flagg’s Career-High 12 Assists
Flagg’s previous career high was 11 assists, a total he reached as recently as Oct. 26 at Miami. He followed his 7 assists in the second quarter with 5 more in the third, and the night gave him his third straight double-double and the fourth of his season.
Brooklyn plays a defensive system almost identical to Dallas’, May said, and the Mavericks see it every day in practice.
“Just making the right decisions,” May said. “That’s one thing that with Coop, you can play over the top of the defense, and so when they play our almost identical system defensively. And so we’ve seen it every day in practice. So we’re more equipped to attack it than early in the season.”
“But just his court vision, his unselfishness, lends itself to him having a lot of games like this,” May added.
Flagg assisted on 5 of Gafford’s 7 field goals. One play started with Irving getting the ball out of a double team quickly.
“I think obviously there’s been a lot of growth, and that’s something I worked on a lot, just making reads,” Flagg explained. “But I think it speaks to our group as well. Everybody just trusting each other. That play that you were talking about, I think I remember Kai got it out of the double team quick. I flashed, Caleb showed for Kai, … and then I had Gaff quick.”
“So I think it’s just our group coming together and everybody just sacrificing and making the right play, and it makes it easy for everybody,” Flagg continued.
Six different teammates scored off Flagg’s 12 assists. None of it felt out of the ordinary to him.
“It’s pretty cool,” Flagg said. “Like I said, it just speaks to our group. Everybody coming together. I didn’t even feel like anything crazy. Just playing through our system and making the right play. And guys are just making shots, so it helps.”
Sunday was Flagg’s ninth game under May, who was named the 11th head coach in Mavericks history in June. May said Flagg is putting in the time and that his processes are improving.
“That was the first thing that impressed me when I studied him and watched him, was I was shocked at how good of a passer he was and what type of court vision,” May said. “And so he’s just getting incrementally better. He’s putting in the time. I think his processes are improving. And so he’s not always going to play great each and every night, but he’s such a competitor.”
“He’s gonna play hard, and majority of the games, he’s gonna be able to perform like he did tonight,” May detailed.
Irving played all 12 minutes of the third quarter and scored 10 points in the period. P.J. Washington made both of his 3-point attempts in the third, and Dallas took a 100-71 lead into the fourth.
No Maverick has more assists than Flagg this season. May said Irving’s play and Washington’s shooting widen the gaps Flagg can find.
“Each game is going to be different as well,” May said. “Some teams are going to fan out and make him score, and he’s more than able to do that, especially in the paint with his pivoting and his athleticism and his feel.”
“But when there’s creases in the defense, and obviously when Kai’s playing as well as he is, that takes basically help-side defender away and makes those gaps and holes even bigger for Gaff and P.J.,” May noted. “And I thought they did a nice job. P.J. making shots, now they’re more concerned with him out to 25 feet, and that gives us even more space. So it all goes hand in hand. We just got to continue to take what the game gives us.”
Daniel Gafford Goes 5-Of-5 In The Third Quarter
Gafford scored 11 points in the third quarter, when he made all 5 of his shots. He entered Sunday averaging 8.9 points on 68.8% shooting, and before the game, May said the screening had been a bright spot for Dallas.
Afterward, May said Gafford led the Mavericks in screen assists.
“We’re just trying to get a little bit better tomorrow than we were today, and on and on,” May said. “But Gaff is stringing together some really productive games, and even the last two haven’t been his best games, because of whatever reason, the opponent, the matchups, things like that. But he’s been our top screen assist guy tonight. Him being able to set good screens and get behind the defense, both were impressive. And then his catches and finishes.”
“You see a lot of guys in the league catch it, and then a help-side defender comes over and puts their chest on them,” May continued. “They’re not able to go up over the top and finish with good balance. And Gaff had some really, really nice finishes tonight. Even one, he kind of had a little 180 after he got bumped. So his finishing around the rim is a weapon that we really need.”
Irving threw Gafford an alley-oop in the third quarter, and Martin set up another of his dunks. Gafford said the rest of the roster takes pressure off Flagg and Irving by sticking to the details of the game plan.
“I mean, offensively, they’re just making my job easier,” Gafford said. “At the end of the day, they got a lot of gravity out there on the floor. And when it comes to the game plan, guys are paying attention to details, and they’re just making, taking some of the pressure off the two main guys that we have on the floor. Honestly, so just prepared to catch anything around the rim.”
Dallas made 32 of its 42 shots in the paint. The Nets collapsed a lot when the Mavericks got the ball inside.
“Causing confusion for them defensively, a lot of guard-to-guard screens slipping to the basket, and they collapsed a lot when it came to us having the ball inside,” Gafford explained. “So it was a lot of sprays, and in general, just finishing around the basket, with them collapsing in so much, you got to go in, either dunk it or get an and-one at the end of the day.”
Flagg On His 3-Point Shot, Triple-Double Chase, And In-Game PB&J
From three-point range, Flagg went 3-of-5 after entering the night shooting 21.6%. Before the game, May said it is probably too early to put stock in the Mavericks’ early-season numbers. Flagg does not overanalyze the percentages.
“I think personally, I mean, I guess to an extent, you always are evaluating your stats and seeing what areas you’re good in and where you need to improve,” Flagg said. “But also, to an extent, I think I don’t overanalyze any of the stats or the numbers or percentages. I think the coaching staff, my teammates, they voice their confidence in me and what I can do. So I kind of forget about all that.”
“I’m just out there trying to play and trying to win and compete at the highest level,” Flagg continued. “And whatever the right play looks like to me in the moment, I’m trusting my instincts, trusting my gut, and I think my coach and my teammates have my back on that.”
“Like the three-point percentage, obviously hasn’t been great, but I still trust myself,” Flagg added. “I think my teammates trust me, my coaches. So I’m gonna keep shooting it, and I worked on it all summer. I worked on it all last year, so I’m not worried about anything.”
No triple-double has come yet in Flagg’s NBA career, and he finished 5 rebounds short Sunday. He does not look at it much.
“I’ve been very close,” Flagg said. “I think tonight I had a couple tip rebounds that should have counted. I would have been a little bit closer, but I mean, like I said, I don’t really look at it that much. At the end of the day, we came out, did our job, followed the game plan, and made a lot of good winning plays.”
During the game, Flagg ate a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. With Dallas playing again Monday, he is trying to get his calories in and stay ahead of it.
“Listen, I thought about this,” Flagg said. “I want to give a shout out to our strength staff. Our medical staff, they’re the best in the business, and I’m trying to put on some weight, keep gaining muscle. So those requirements I got to meet, and I’m just trying to stay ahead of it. We got another game tomorrow, so just trying to get my calories and stay ahead of it, and be ready for another one tomorrow.”
The Mavericks list Flagg at 6-foot-9 and 205 pounds. Gafford said Flagg is in the weight room every day.
“Had the opportunity to really just go against him throughout the offseason, and trust me, I was tired after every practice,” Gafford said. “So it’s like, going against a guy like him, man, he works in the weight room every day, and I’m pretty sure he’s building his body mass throughout this season. So, I mean, it was shown on full display tonight.”
Dallas Mavericks Hold Brooklyn Nets To 38.8% Shooting
Brooklyn shot 38.8% from the field and went 11-of-39 from three-point range. The Nets came in making 14.1 3-pointers per game on 35.1% shooting.
Porter scored 15 of his 19 points in the first quarter and went 1-of-9 from the field after it. Before the game, May said he wanted Dallas to challenge every touch from Porter and Brooklyn’s shooters early. Julius Randle, a Dallas-area native, entered averaging 23.5 points in his homecoming games and finished with 13 points and a minus-33.
Nolan Traoré added 14 points for Brooklyn, and Moritz Wagner had 12 off the bench. Josh Minott scored all 10 of his points in the fourth quarter. Danny Wolf, who played for May at Michigan, had 10 points in a team-high 36 minutes.
Switching as often as Dallas does means every player has to know the tendencies of the entire opposing roster.
“Our scouting report. I thought we probably had graded it an A-minus, B-plus on our scouting report discipline,” May said. “We knew the tendencies, and when you switch as much as we do, it’s easier said than done to know the tendencies, because you need to know them for basically the entire roster, because you’ll be switched on anyone at any time.”
“I thought tonight we had good discipline,” May continued. “I thought we were active. I thought our hand activity and communication was as good as it’s been. And like I said, those things have to be constant. Whether you’re making shots, you’re missing shots, those are the things we’ve been able to hang our hat on.”
Porter and Randle combined to shoot 10-of-25. Gafford said the Mavericks knew Brooklyn’s top two scorers would try to get every shot off.
“I mean, we was just pretty much just piggybacking off of just the beginning,” Gafford said. “We paid attention to detail, stuck to the game plan. We know the main two guys were gonna come out and try to get every shot off, and we just tried to really just disrupt a lot of stuff and just cause a lot of discomfort when it came to their offense. And I think that’s what we did for sure, 100%.”
Rookie Morez Johnson Jr. grabbed 7 defensive rebounds in 19 minutes. Dallas has the versatility to switch one through five with different lineups, he said.
“I think it showed when we lock in defensively, we can be a very good defensive team,” Johnson said. “We got some versatility on the defensive end, switching one through five with different lineups.”
The Mavericks committed 21 turnovers, and Brooklyn turned them into 25 points. Dallas made 14 of its 35 3-point attempts and 20 of its 22 free throws. Some nights the ball will not drop.
“Obviously, if we shoot the ball like that with the way we’re defending now, we’re gonna have a chance to win each and every night,” May said. “But some nights the ball’s not gonna drop. We made our free throws. We got to the line. We still have some work to do as far as not turning the ball over when you’re shooting like we are. If we manage to clean up some of those turnovers, I think we still have a jump to make.”
Martin finished with 2 points, 2 rebounds, and 2 assists in 19 minutes with a plus-11. Max Christie started each of the Mavericks’ first seven games, and Martin has made three starts, including the last two. May said the decision accounts for nights when Irving does not play, which the staff cannot always predict.
“We tinkered with a number of different guys in that spot,” May said. “And we just felt like with our team, especially on nights Kyrie’s not playing, and we don’t know exactly when those are going to be. We thought Caleb gives us the best chance to be elite defensively, and from a toughness standpoint, and we also felt like the other four guys are scoring at a high clip. That we needed someone to kind of give themselves up and connect the group by also still being a threat.”
“He banged in his first jump shot,” May continued. “After that, I thought he played really, really well. And there’s going to be some games when he steps up and gives us 15 or whatever the case, because that’s what the game dictates. But I thought tonight he did what he does. He played a very good floor game. He’s bright out there.”
“We need his voice on both sides of the ball, and we just have a lot of really good players, and it’s tough to decide which ones to go with,” May added. “But we just feel like with that group, he allows us to be big, to be physical, and have a real defensive presence, but also have a high basketball IQ on the offensive end.”
Santi Aldama, Morez Johnson Jr., And A 58-31 Bench Edge
Santi Aldama led the bench with 12 points on 5-of-7 shooting, including 2-of-4 from three-point range, in 14:39. Dallas acquired him from the Memphis Grizzlies in a six-team trade on July 8. He missed the first eight games after right knee surgery in March before debuting Friday with 8 points and 9 rebounds.
May first saw Aldama play for the Spanish national team when Aldama was 17.
“The one thing that I didn’t realize, I’d watched Santi,” May said. “I’d seen him play for the Spanish national team when he was 17, and had seen him play throughout the different stages of his career, and really respected him as a player. I didn’t realize he was a psycho competitor like he is. He’s a competitive dude. He’s fiery, and so I think that dimension is really, really good for this group as well.”
“You’re playing 82 games, and just the more competitive guys that just love to compete, the better team competitive spirit you’re going to have,” May detailed. “And Santi brings that in addition to his obvious ability to shoot it and make decisions and communicate and things like that. And then just being seven feet, he’s got the build to guard one through five.”
Aldama averaged career highs of 14.0 points, 6.7 rebounds, and 2.9 assists in 43 games for Memphis last season. Gafford said he gives Dallas a lift on both ends.
“I mean, of course, another form of physicality, but another way to stretch the floor, honestly,” Gafford said. “And like I said last game, I’m pretty sure he was itching to be back out there on the floor. He just gives us so much offensively and on the defensive side too. So he’s just coming in ready to go.”
After Friday’s debut, May said the staff had not seen Aldama with the regular rotation until that morning’s shootaround. Johnson said Aldama can put the ball on the floor and bring it up at times.
“Just him being a pick-and-pop four or five man, being very versatile, putting the ball on the floor, bringing it up sometimes,” Johnson explained. “And he’s extremely vocal. I didn’t know he was this vocal until we started playing together.”
Johnson had not logged more than 18 minutes in a game before Friday. For a teammate jumping in without much practice time, the answer is talking.
“I was that guy a few weeks ago, so I say just being over-communicative, but just talking,” Johnson said.
Dallas’ reserves outscored Brooklyn’s 58-31, two nights after outscoring Utah’s bench 44-19. Zaccharie Risacher had 11 points and 6 rebounds, and Walter Clayton Jr. finished with 5 points, 6 assists, and 2 steals with a plus-21. Marshall added 8 points, Christie had 5, and Jett Howard scored 5 in 2:33, including a 29-foot 3-pointer.
Marcus Sasser scored 4 points. Moussa Cissé and Tobi Lawal each had 2, and Cissé’s free throws with 22.7 seconds left made it 130-93.
Back-to-backs and road trips require as many live bodies as possible.
“I think we’re getting great bench play,” May said. “Once again, I thought Santi and Walt, Naji and Zacch got it going there at the end. … And then that group that finished the game, I thought played really, really well.”
“So, as we know, with back-to-backs in these games, these road trips, we need as many live bodies as possible,” May noted. “And then we just got to go with whoever has it going that particular night, and figure out a way to win each and every game.”
Johnson, the ninth overall pick in June, grabbed a career-high 17 rebounds against Utah on Friday. He had 4 points and 9 rebounds Sunday and drew a technical foul with 3:51 left in the third quarter. May won both of his coach’s challenges, overturning fouls called on Johnson in the second quarter and Washington in the third.
Ten games into his career, the pace and the lack of full practices stand out to Johnson.
“Physically, fast pace,” Johnson said. “[Got to] be very intentional. You don’t get days where you like get like a full practice in. You just got to be very locked in mentally.”
Mavericks Rest Starters Before Indiana Pacers Visit
Irving, Gafford, and Martin did not play in the fourth quarter, and no Maverick logged more than 29 minutes. May said some players were already leaving to get treatment by the time he reached the locker room.
“I’d love to do this every night if possible,” May said. “No, obviously, to not have to go to the wire, it’s less taxing mentally and physically, and we were able to play some guys and, when we got to the locker room, there were already players ready to hit the road and get out, get their treatment and leave.”
“So hopefully they get a good night’s rest,” May continued. “We can come in and replicate this energy tomorrow night. I thought our crowd was awesome as well.”
Dallas played without Dereck Lively II (right foot surgery), Tarik Biberović (right heel bursitis), and Sergio De Larrea (right knee sprain). Brooklyn was without Egor Dëmin (right bone bruise) and rookie Mikel Brown Jr. (back, injury management).
The Indiana Pacers visit American Airlines Center on Monday at 7 p.m. CT. Indiana is 3-7 after a 114-102 loss to Denver in Mexico City on Saturday. Dallas won the first meeting 121-105 in Indianapolis on Oct. 23, and the Mavericks open a three-game road trip Thursday at Minnesota.
