Cooper Flagg at American Airlines Center on Monday. Photo via Mavs.com.
NBA · DALLAS 125, INDIANA 122 · AMERICAN AIRLINES CENTER · MONDAY
KEY STATS 📊
Cooper Flagg: 43 points (30 after halftime), 16 of 25 FG, 3 of 6 from three, 10 rebounds, 6 assists, 3 steals
Kyrie Irving: 35 points, 7 of 10 from three, plus-29
The duo: 78 combined, including 50 of Dallas' 69 second-half points
Pascal Siakam: 29 points for Indiana, 26 in the first half
History: Flagg is the second teenager with 40 points, 10 rebounds and 5 assists in a game, after Kevin Durant
Records: Mavericks 7-4 (three straight wins); Pacers 3-8
THE STORY 🗞️
DALLAS. Indiana led for most of three quarters on Monday night. Then Cooper Flagg and Kyrie Irving took the game away from them.
Flagg scored 43 points, a season high, with 10 rebounds, six assists and three steals as the Mavericks came back to beat the Pacers 125-122. He is the second teenager in NBA history with a 40-point, 10-rebound, 5-assist game. The other is Kevin Durant, according to the NBA.
Irving added 35 points and went 7 of 10 from three. Dallas was plus-29 with him on the floor, on the second night of a back-to-back. It was the first time he had played on consecutive nights since his knee injury in March 2025, the Mavericks said.
How Dallas turned it
The Mavericks trailed by as many as 13 in the second quarter, and Siakam had 26 of his 29 points by halftime. After the break, Flagg and Irving scored 50 of Dallas' 69 points, and 26 of the 35 the Mavericks put up in the fourth.
Irving's three early in the fourth made it 98-97, and Dallas never trailed again. Flagg did his damage from the midrange, finishing it with two pull-up 18-footers in the final minute, ESPN reported. He is 29 of 49 from 10 to 19 feet this season, per NBA.com tracking.
It still got tight. Aaron Nesmith's three cut it to 123-122 with 20 seconds left. Irving made two free throws, P.J. Washington then missed two, and Caleb Martin stole Indiana's inbound pass with 3.8 seconds left to end it.
"Every night is going to be somebody else's night. That's our identity. Tonight, me and Kai had it going."
Cooper Flagg, via Mavs.com
The teenage company he keeps
This was Flagg's fifth career 40-point game. That matches the next two teenagers combined, LeBron James with three and Anthony Edwards with two, per the Mavericks. ESPN also counted 14 games of 30 or more points before his 20th birthday, second only to James' 20.
His coach did not bother hiding how he felt about it. "It's hard to believe he's a 19 year old doing this," Dusty May said.
OUR TAKE 🐶
The numbers jump off the page, but the shot profile is the real story. A 19-year-old winning a close game with contested midrange pull-ups is a player who already knows where his spots are.
Dallas is 7-4 and has won three straight. If Irving keeps holding up on back-to-backs, this pairing gives the Mavericks a real case in the West.
THE BETTING ANGLE 🎯
For our analysts' takes, follow DawgHousePicks.
What to watch: Thursday is a road test against an 8-3 Minnesota team. The market will price in how Irving's workload is handled on the trip. No pick.
UP NEXT: The Mavericks open a three-game road trip at the Minnesota Timberwolves on Thursday 12 November.
HOW TO WATCH 📺: 8:00 PM ET / 7:00 PM CT on NBA TV. Local: MavsTV and KFAA (Dallas area).
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Sources
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