The Dallas Mavericks lost a 123-121 heartbreaker to the Charlotte Hornets Thursday night in Dallas. Rookies Cooper Flagg and Kon Knueppel put on a hell of a show, combining to score 83 points.
Flagg had
a career-high 49, while Knueppel had 34. There were times when this game was a literal duel between both superstar rookies, with Knueppel and Flagg trading baskets during a wild, back-and-forth second quarter. The Hornets were hot from deep, but as Dallas is prone to do, kept hanging around and making things competitive.
In the end Flagg had a chance to tie or take the lead in the final seconds, but his game-tying jumper was off at the buzzer. Dallas has now lost three in a row after winning four straight. Here are the numbers that stood out.
14-of-17: Cooper Flagg’s shooting in the paint
Obviously the number of the night is 49, Flagg’s point total, which was not only a career-high but checked some other impressive boxes:
- Most points scored by a Mavericks rookie, breaking the 42 points Flagg previously scored in Utah earlier this season and the 42 points Mavericks legend Mark Aguirre scored in 1981. Because sports are great, of course this happened on the night the Mavericks retired Aguirre’s number and he was in attendance.
- Most points scored by a teenager, surpassing then 19-year-old Cliff Robinson’s 45 points scored back in 1980.
So yes, this entire stats post could have been Flagg numbers. I wanted to pick a different one, so when I looked at his shot chart, my eyes widened: Flagg shot 14-of-17 in the paint. That is not a typo, do not adjust your screen. Flagg was a perfect 8-of-8 in the restricted area and an incredible 6-of-9 from the floater range.
Flagg got to 49 points with only three made 3-pointers and six made free throws. That’s unheard of in the modern NBA, where scoring outbursts are typically fueled by a wave of long-range bombs and foul drawing. This was the most ethical 49-point I’ve seen in a long time.
I don’t know what else to say. Flagg was incredible and deserved a win to celebrate the milestone.
20: Hornets made 3-pointers
So how did the Mavericks lose a game when Flagg goes bananas? Simple: they couldn’t make threes and the Hornets could.
Charlotte went 20-of-41 from three, while the Mavericks were a frigid 11-of-33 in comparison. A 27-point deficit from the three point line is almost literally impossible to overcome, so it was a miracle the Mavericks were so competitive in this game to begin with.
The Hornets three best players (LaMelo Ball, Brandon Miller, and Knueppel) combined for 17 of the 20 three pointers. Knueppel in particular was a flamethrower, making seven threes in the first half. Miller and Ball both hit huge threes in the final moments to help push Charlotte across the finish line.
Dallas did a lot of things well, but they couldn’t hit jumpers and they couldn’t keep the Hornets in front of them to shut off the water on their threes as well.
60: Points in the paint for Dallas
It’s remarkable how well the Mavericks score in the paint despite the fact that they are one of the worst three-point shooting teams in the NBA. Usually you need proper floor-spacing and court gravity to open up the driving lanes to score down low, but the Mavericks keep doing it night after night despite the bad shooting from three.
The Mavericks are top 10 in drives and points in the paint per game, mostly led by Flagg’s dogged determination to get to the rim as early and as often as possible. That playstyle has clearly been infectious, especially when Naji Marshall is on the floor as well (he was out for this game for rest).
I keep waiting for teams to just completely wall off the rim against the Mavericks and dare role players to make jumpers, but it just hasn’t reliably happened. Kudos to Klay Thompson for basically being one-man floor spacing, and his movement shooting has been nearly invaluable for the team.
