At the 5:45 mark of the first quarter of the Monday night Mavericks vs. Thunder game, rookie forward Cooper Flagg snatched the ball off a missed Brooks Barnhizer three. Cason Wallace of the Thunder picked
up Flagg immediately, nearly 90 feet from the Dallas basket.
Flagg advanced the ball up the court with a left handed dribble, using his long frame to take big steps to advance the ball up the floor. Wallace made an attempt on the ball just past the Thunder free throw line; Cooper calmly crossed the ball behind his back and moved past half court with two decisive and under-control dribbles. After a hesitation dribble just past half court, adjacent to the right wing, Flagg puts down his head and takes two more powerful dribbles to get inside the three-point line near the break. From there, he puts his back to the basket, takes two more left-handed dribbles pushing the ball to the middle of the lane with his shoulders square to the basket. At this point, Flagg draws the attention of center Ousmane Dieng, who steps up to help Wallace defend Flagg. Cooper sees this help coming, plants on two feet during his power dribble, rises, and drops off a pass right into the hands of Dwight Powell for an easy basket.
The clip above is just 8 seconds. We’ve all had an exciting 8 seconds in our lives before, I’m sure. But this clip, this moment is something to build off of.
Modern basketball games have from 90 to 100 possessions for a team in a given game. As of this writing, the Mavericks have D’Angelo Russell as a point guard and… well that remains to be seen. Dante Exum is under contract, as is Brandon Williams. Dennis Smith Jr. is fighting for a spot and rookie Andrew Nembard is with Dallas as a two-way contract. That’s a long way of saying that my confidence level in the simple ability to bring the ball up the court isn’t that high right now. Russell is more than suitable, but he’s played within range of the 30-32 minute mark the last several years. So who gets the point guard minutes and who brings the ball up the court 10-12 minutes a game is something I’ve been very focused on.
Flagg’s ability to do this against Cason Wallace, even if it was just one play, takes the pressure I’m feeling on this one part of the game way down. Wallace is one of the best defenders in the NBA and Flagg looked patient, under control, and very confident. That’s huge. We knew Flagg would be at least decent in NBA games after he had just three turnovers in 60 minutes in Las Vegas Summer League, but seeing it against very good game pressure is the next step. Flagg delivered.
If Flagg can take the pressure off the Mavericks for 10-12 possessions a game in this way, that would be a fantastic step for the Mavericks as they try to make their way back to the playoffs.
