The Dallas Mavericks [lost to the Utah Jazz, 116-114](/dallas-mavericks-game-coverage/54505/mavericks-vs-jazz-recap-final-score-116-114-anthony-davis-injury-cooper-flagg-lauri-markkanen), but boy does Cooper Flagg love playing in Utah. He lead Dallas with 26 points, and was the only Maverick in the starting five to finish the game with a positive +/-, at +3.
Lauri Markkanen led all scorers with 33 and was supported with 19 from Keyonte George, who continues to play great in his breakout season.
In his first game against the Jazz, Cooper set the high-scoring mark for his young career, putting up 42 points in what became his “I’ve arrived” game. In that first matchup, though, Flagg required 15 free throws to get to 42. Tonight, he earned just four, and made three of them.
It was his shooting from the floor — 10-of-18 from the floor and 3-of-6 from three — that powered the majority of his 26-point night. He also finished with eight assists and 10 rebounds, just two assists shy of his first triple-double, and what would be the youngest player to do so in league history. The watch continues. It’s just a shame both of those impressive nights from Flagg have ended with a loss (well, depending on what you want from this season)
With Dallas holding a 107-103 lead with under four minutes to go in the fourth quarter (a clutch game, obviously), Cooper Flagg hit what looked like an astounding circus shot. He caught an inbounds pass, spun, and fired up a three from the corner with under a second to go on the shot clock. Nailed it.
Initially, the bucket was counted, but upon review, the shot was just late and resulted in a shot clock violation. So, instead of pushing the lead to seven, Utah got the ball, and Lauri Markkannen promptly went and laid in a hook shot, the start of an 11-1 Jazz run that vaulted them ahead of Dallas with a lead they never surrendered. The 3-pointer that got removed from the board was more than just a loss of points; it shifted the momentum in a game that had been back and forth all night.
Anthony Davis left the game in the fourth quarter with a finger injury. He went to the lockerroom and didn’t return. In a post-game press conference, all Coach Kidd could say about it was that Davis had injured his left hand.
With Atlanta moving Trae Young to the Wizards, it really felt like progress was being made to get AD sent to the team that has been most closely linked with Dallas in trade discussions. How much value AD possessed on the market has been hotly debated, but AD, with an injury to his hand that’s going to keep him out multiple weeks, is certainly going to be much less than it was before.
Dallas is attempting to tread an impossibly narrow path in retooling around Flagg with the few remaining assets they have to rebuild the team on the fly. Getting even less for AD means there’s going to be an even smaller room for error in this rebuild.
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