The Dallas Mavericks kicked off the weekend with a Friday night matchup against the Orlando Magic. Both teams came in ice cold, each 2-8 in their past 10 games. But Orlando had too much firepower against a shorthanded Dallas, as the Mavericks home losing streak extended to 14. But it didn’t matter because there was a bigger storyline for Dallas tonight: Cooper Flagg is special. Here are the grades, as the Mavs shift focus to the Lakers on Sunday.
Cooper Flagg: A+
51 PTS / 6 REB / 3 AST / 3 STL / 1 BLK – 34 MIN
Holy cow. No teenager had ever scored 50 points in an
NBA game – until tonight. At 19 years and 103 days old, Cooper Flagg became the youngest player in NBA history to hit the 50-point mark (51 actually). He was special tonight. Flagg was 19/30 from the floor, 6/9 from three, and 7/7 from the free throw line. An aggressive Cooper Flagg is a Cooper Flagg that we like to see. From the jump, Flagg was searching for his shot and getting to the rim with relative ease. Even with a physical Magic team hounding him all night, Flagg found a way to get to his spots, and his jumper was hotter than fish grease. When he starts taking pullup jumpers from the perimeter, you know he’s in rhythm.
Naji Marshall: C-
9 PTS / 4 REB / 2 AST / 1 STL – 24 MIN
This was an uncharacteristic Naji Marshall game. Marshall was just 3/12 from the floor, missing several of his patented paint floaters. He just didn’t have the touch tonight and was a team worst -16. As icing on the cake, he was ejected with 10:40 remaining in the fourth quarter, after receiving his second technical foul.
Klay Thompson: A
18 PTS / 2 AST / 1 REB – 22 MIN
Klay Thompson is a lot more like us regular folk than one might think. This man just shows up for work, does what he was hired to do, and goes home. He was the hot hand from beyond the arc tonight for Dallas, going 4/10. If you needed a reminder, Klay is closing in on 3,000 three pointers made in his career and if he stays a Maverick this offseason, he’ll do it sometime in 2026. He currently sits at 2,891. And once he eclipses that mark, he’ll be one of only three players to hit 3,000 career threes, joining Stephen Curry and James Harden.
Max Christie: B+
14 PTS / 5 REB / 3 AST – 29 MIN
Max Christie, after losing his touch for a few games this season, has been better as of late. He hit a couple threes to give the Mavericks offense life early but was largely silent for the rest of the game. But he impacts the game defensively. Christie was a team high +7 on a night the Mavs lost by 11.
Brandon Williams: B-
23 PTS / 5 AST / 2 REB / 2 STL / 3 TO – 26 MIN
Williams’ ability to attack and finish is never an issue. He has one of the quickest first steps of any guard in the NBA and he’s past you before you can blink. But he had loose hands tonight, adding three turnovers to his five assists. The scoring is there, but Williams is limited in creating offense for others.
Ryan Nembhard: C+
2 PTS / 6 REB / 5 AST / 3 TO – 21 MIN
Nembhard is a good facilitator. He can run and offense and help get guys into their spots. But his lack of size is too often exploited on both ends of the floor. Sometimes his offense can make up for his defense, but it didn’t tonight. Scoring two points with five assists and three turnovers just isn’t good enough.
Daniel Gafford: B
7 PTS / 3 REB / 1 AST / 2 STL / 2 BLK – 20 MIN
Gafford has been through a lot this season. He has no real point guard to play off of and his injuries have kept him from maintaining any consistency in his play. While the stat sheet doesn’t jump off the page tonight, his energy and effort were much needed as the Mavs are desperately searching for something to inject them with some life on a nightly basis.
Dwight Powell: B
0 PTS / 5 REB / 1 AST / 1 STL / 1 BLK – 25 MIN
This is the most Dwight Powell game of Dwight Powell games. He didn’t score but did grab a few rebounds and still moved like he’s 22. Powell was at a severe disadvantage tonight with Orlando’s athletic big men, but as he always does, he tried. And solely for his effort, he would get an A.
Final Thoughts
Orlando, despite its recent struggles, is just the clear better team. They shot well from three, beat the Mavs up in the paint, and just found ways to expose the Mavericks on defense. But the real story was Cooper Flagg. There’s nothing else to be said that hasn’t been already. He’s special and one-of-a-kind. Even if he doesn’t win Rookie of the Year, he’ll be amongst the league’s elite…very soon.
