Cooper Flagg’s 43-to-12 Swing Says More About the Night Than the Player

On Monday, Cooper Flagg scored 43 points in Dallas’ 125-122 victory over Indiana. On Thursday, he scored 12 in a 133-94 loss to Minnesota. Put those lines side by side and they resemble a warning sign. Put the rest of Thursday’s box score beside them and they look more like one young player caught in two very different games.

Flagg finished Thursday with 5-for-12 shooting, seven rebounds, three assists, two steals and two turnovers in 27 minutes. His night included a running dunk at 9:30 of the first quarter, an assist on Caleb Martin’s 22-foot 3-pointer and a 25-foot 3-pointer of his own in the second. In the third, he made a driving floater and assisted Naji Marshall’s 11-foot pull-up.

That is not a complete offensive performance, but it is not an empty one either. The supporting statistics explain some of what Flagg provided. They do not explain why his scoring dropped by 31 points in three days, and they certainly do not make him the sole reason Dallas lost by 39.

The Mavericks shot 35-for-94, or 37%, and made 13 of 48 3-point attempts. They turned the ball over 19 times, and Minnesota scored 29 points off those turnovers. Dallas’ offense had too many possessions ending without a made shot or a clean result for any one scorer to repair the whole evening.

Flagg was responsible for two of the turnovers, but the other 17 belonged elsewhere.

His rebounding and passing were more valuable when the score was still within reach. At 4:56 of the second quarter, Flagg’s 25-foot 3-pointer cut Minnesota’s lead to 50-45. Earlier, at 8:02, his layup had made it 41-38.

Those were real contributions during a stretch when Dallas remained connected to the game. They did not become enough because the Mavericks could not keep the margin from expanding before halftime, when Minnesota led 67-52.

Then came the sequence that overwhelmed every individual stat. Minnesota opened the third quarter with a 17-4 run. LaMelo Ball hit a 31-foot 3-pointer at 11:17, Ayo Dosunmu followed with a 22-foot running jumper, Jaden McDaniels scored from two-point range, and Jonathan Kuminga added a driving layup.

By 8:02, Gobert’s alley-oop layup had made it 84-56. Flagg’s next basket, a floater at 2:44, came with Minnesota ahead 97-63.

Dallas did not lose that stretch because Flagg missed one shot. The Timberwolves made 52 of 90 attempts, or 58%, and went 15-for-32 from 3-point range. Ball scored 22 points with six 3-pointers and nine assists.

Bones Hyland added 24 points, going 5-for-6 from deep, while Dosunmu scored 18. Those performances belong in the account too. Minnesota had several players producing at once, and that made it much harder for Dallas to stay in the game when its own offense slowed.

The Mavericks’ distribution also resists an easy blame assignment. Dallas’ starters scored 42 points, while the reserves scored 52. Kyrie Irving had 10 points on 4-for-11 shooting, while Flagg’s 12 left him behind Risacher’s 22 and Naji Marshall’s 13 in Dallas scoring.

No single player carried the scoring burden successfully, but the team’s 19 turnovers and 37% shooting were broad problems rather than a Flagg-only failure.

There is a fair criticism to make. Twelve points on 5-for-12 shooting is not enough from a featured young player on a night when the game might have stayed competitive with more shotmaking. His seven rebounds and three assists could not compensate for Dallas’ 39-point defeat. Secondary contributions count, but they do not turn a quiet scoring game into a good offensive night.

The fairer judgment stops there. Monday’s 43-point outburst did not prove Flagg had solved every NBA defense, just as Thursday’s 12 did not establish a permanent decline. His line changed sharply because the entire game around him changed sharply: Dallas shot poorly, lost possessions and watched Minnesota build a 36-17 third quarter.

That is a difficult environment for any scorer, and an especially poor setting for a career verdict on a young player.

Sources

ESPN: Mavericks–Timberwolves final box score and play-by-play

Associated Press via ESPN: Mavericks–Timberwolves report

NBA: Thursday official availability report