The Dallas Mavericks dropped a heartbreaker in overtime against the Utah Jazz, [losing 140-133](/dallas-mavericks-game-coverage/53705/mavericks-jazz-final-score-140-133-dallas-loss-utah-recap) Monday night in Salt Lake City. Dallas drops out of the play-in for the moment, falling to 12th place in the Western Conference.
It was a very entertaining back-and-forth affair, resembling those classic Mavericks shootouts from the early 2000s with Dirk Nowitzki and Steve Nash. Neither Utah nor Dallas had much interest in guarding during this game, as both teams scored over 60 points in the paint and shot 50 percent from the field (technically 49 percent for the Mavericks).
Keyonte George was the high-point man for the Jazz with 37, while Lauri Markkanen had a massive double-double with 33 points and 16 rebounds. Cooper Flagg had a monstrous night for Dallas, but more on that shortly. In fact, let’s just get ahead to the three numbers to care about.
Cooper Flagg had a historic night, scoring a career-high 42 points. It checked a couple records for the Mavericks rookie: It was the most points ever scored in a game by an 18-year-old, and it also tied the Mavericks rookie record for points in a single game, matching Mavericks legend Mark Aguirre’s 42 points in 1981.
Flagg was incredible all night. He made 9-of-15 shots in the paint, with the Jazz completely unable to contain him from barreling into the paint. Flagg got to the rim seemingly at will, and it took the Jazz aggressively doubling him in the final minutes of the fourth quarter to slow him down.
He took 27 shots and got to the free throw line 20 times, having heavy usage as the Mavericks were shorthanded with Ryan Nembhard the only healthy point guard active for the game. Despite all that usage, Flagg only had four turnovers, which isn’t great but considering all the touches and playing 42 minutes, is pretty good.
Unfortunately Flagg was muted toward the end of the game as fatigue and the Jazz’s defense ramped up the pressure. Doesn’t take away from the simply incredible night.
Anthony Davis missed this game with a left calf contusion, and while center Daniel Gafford returned from his ankle sprain, it was on a minutes restriction. Gafford only played 13 minutes due to that restriction and foul trouble, which left the Mavericks big rotation for most of this game as Dwight Powell and rookie Moussa Cisse.
No disrespect to either of those, but the defensive fallout was crazy. Dallas had zero resistance at the rim, which didn’t help that Utah also attacked Nembhard on the perimeter as well. It was a bad combination that led to the Jazz having a layup line all night.
Getting walloped in the paint and losing the three point line is not a winning combination. Dallas made nine three pointers and the Jazz had 13, those four extra threes in a seven point loss were felt mightily.
Since the Mavericks couldn’t stop Utah off the dribble, they were conceding layups or getting into rotations and giving up open threes. Not a great night for the Mavericks defense.
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