The Dallas Mavericks (5-12) came back from a 14-point deficit at halftime to avoid losing their second straight game to the bottom-feeding New Orleans Pelicans (2-14) on Friday at American Airlines Center and get their first win in NBA Cup pool play in the process. Dallas outscored the Pelicans 36-22 in the third quarter then fended New Orleans off in a hard-fought fourth quarter for the 118-115 win.
Rookie sensation Cooper Flagg went off for a career-high 29 points to go along with seven rebounds
and five assists in the win. P.J. Washington added 24 and nine, while Max Christie pitched in 23 more on 5-of-9 shooting from 3-point range.
Here are seven stats that tell the tale of the Mavericks’ latest win.
21: First-quarter scoring by Jeremiah Fears and Trey Murphy III
New Orleans started the game off on a tear, connecting on 10 of the team’s first 14 shot attempts to sprint out to a 28-19 lead eight minutes in. Trey Murphy III completed a 3-point play inside on a bullet of a find from rookie center Derik Queen, good enough for Queen’s seventh assist in the game’s first eight minutes to put the Pels up by nine.
Fellow rookie Jeremiah Fears hit all four of his field goal attempts, including 3-of-3 shooting from 3-point range, in the opener, and Murphy led all scorers with 11 after one. They combined to shoot 8-of-9 from the field to start the game, but the Mavs couldn’t eat into the nine-point lead New Orleans built early, even when Fears and Murphy headed to the bench for the last four minutes.
The Pelicans took a 34-25 lead at the end of one, and they did it in a quarter where Zion Williamson didn’t even get into the scoring act until he drove for a score inside with 31 seconds left. New Orleans has dealt with long stretches without Williamson over the years, but to have their biggest weapon available and to put together one of the team’s best quarters of the young season despite little to no production from Williamson is something that could only happen against the slow-starting Mavericks. After all, Dallas has been almost every bit as pitiful as the Pelicans have been so far this year. For the record, Williamson had played in just 220 of a possible 487 career games coming into Friday.
5: First-half turnovers from Brandon Williams
While the rookie Fears found his rhythm early for the Pelicans, Dallas’ starting point guard struggled to hold onto the ball throughout the first half. Stop me if you’ve heard this one before, Mavs fans, but the turnover bug bit Dallas hard in the first half enough to leave an unsightly rash.
Brandon Williams turned the ball over four times in his first nine minutes on the floor and five times overall in the first half. Too often, the turnovers prevented the Mavs from even initiating their offense. The Mavericks gave it away seven times in the first quarter, three of which came on steals by Fears, and 12 times in the first half. Dallas came into the game tied for the worst mark in the NBA in turnovers per game, at 16.6.
P.J. Washington did a great job of bouncing back after Wednesday’s 1-for-12 night in the Mavericks’ 113-111 loss to the New York Knicks, shooting 5-of-8 from the field and 3-of-5 from 3-point land on his way to a team-leading 14 points in the first half on Friday, but you’d never know it from looking at the scoreboard because of all the turnovers. Fears and Murphy combined for seven first-half steals against the Mavs as the Pels carried their largest halftime lead of the year, 63-49, into the break.
5-of-6: Max Christie’s shooting start from 3-point range
The hot hand of Cormac Karl “Max” Christie kept the Mavericks afloat to start the second half. He nailed three triples in the first 2:12 of the third quarter, forcing a quick timeout from New Orleans interim head coach James Borrego after coming into the game 12th in the NBA in 3-pointers made (41) and 16th in 3-point shooting percentage (46.1%). Christie made 2-of-3 from long range in the first half.
Christie’s initial flurry turned into a 21-9 Dallas run to open the third quarter. Williams piled up five of his game-high 12 assists during the run, including a nice leave for Washington, who canned his fourth 3-ball of the game with 7:38 left in the third to force Borrego into another timeout with the Pelicans’ lead whittled all the way down to two, 72-70. Washington (19 points at that point) and Christie (16) combined to score 15 of Dallas’ 21 points during the run.
Christie finished the game with 23 points on 7-of-12 shooting, including 5-of-9 from distance.
“We’ve shown progress,” Christie said in his post-game press conference. “The growth tonight was to be able to close one out and win one.”
12: Consecutive double-digit scoring games for Cooper Flagg
Cooper Flagg moved past LeBron James for consecutive double-digit scoring games (11) before a player’s 19th birthday in Monday’s 120-96 loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves, and Flagg extended that streak to 12 on Friday when he scored on a strong drive to the hoop from Williams with 11:22 left in the third quarter.
Flagg would pile up seven more points as the Mavericks came alive in the third, including huge back-to-back buckets inside to bring Dallas all the way back for their first lead since it was a 5-4 game with 9:46 left in the first quarter. He scored in the lane through Queen’s foul to pull Dallas to within 74-73 before slamming another one home the next time down on a play where Queen scooted out of the way instead of challenging the high-flying Flagg.
At that point, Flagg had piled up 17 points against the Pelicans. He came into the game averaging 15.4 points in his previous 11 games. The Mavs outscored the Pelicans 36-22 in the third quarter and went into the fourth with new life and the game tied, 85-85.
0: Pelicans’ second-half 3-pointers
After the Pelicans hit 7-of-15 from 3-point range in the first half, the Mavericks’ defense shut New Orleans out from behind the arc in the second half. The Pels went freezing cold, doing the Mavericks a huge favor by shooting a god-awful 0-for-12 from 3-point land in the third and fourth quarters.
Murphy went 0-for-4 from deep in the second half but led the Pelicans with 25 points in the loss. He and Saddiq Bey combined to hit just 1-of-7 from 3-point land on Friday.
1: Ill-timed technical foul by Naji Marshall
With 3:13 left to play and the Mavericks trailing 107-105, Cooper Flagg went to the free-throw line with a chance to tie the game. Naji Marshall had some smack to talk, and he bumped Fears in the chest with his shoulder as the two exchanged words. He was called for a technical foul, Flagg made just 1-of-2 from the line, and like magic, the Pels’ two-point lead was still there.
Williamson scored 10 in the fourth quarter to match Flagg’s 12, but Flagg turned it over on a bad pass in transition that was picked off by Queen with one minute left in the game and the Mavericks trailing 115-113.
1: Naji Marshall’s only 3-pointer of the game
And that’s when Marshall made up for his critical error two minutes earlier. Flagg broke free from a collapsing New Orleans double team near the free-throw line with 32 seconds left in the game and found Marshall wide open near the top of the key for a 3-pointer that gave the Mavs back the lead at 116-115.
It was Flagg’s fifth assist to go along with a new career-high scoring mark of 29 points. Marshall may have finished the game with a relatively quiet nine points, five rebounds and five assists, but his only 3-pointer on Friday was the biggest bucket of the game.
“We came together as a team down the stretch and just made the winning plays,” Flagg said in his televised postgame interview. “It’s incredible. The intensity and environment [were] amazing, so shoutout to all the fans.”
