What feats of strength will Cooper Flagg perform next?
Find out when the Dallas Mavericks (19-29) visit the Houston Rockets (29-17) on Saturday at the Toyota Center, with tipoff scheduled for 7:30 p.m.
We can confidently say that, because as of the NBA’s 4:30 p.m. injury report on Friday, Flagg is no longer listed with the “ankle injury management” designation we’ve become accustomed to seeing lately. He’s coming off Thursday’s 49-point explosion in the Mavericks’ 123-121 loss to the Charlotte Hornets
while the Mavericks are looking to halt their current three-game losing streak as a tough stretch of games gets even tougher starting this weekend.
The Rockets, meanwhile, have won six of their last eight, including two wins over the San Antonio Spurs, an overtime victory at the Philadelphia 76ers and a narrow win over the Detroit Pistons. Houston has gotten four 30-point outings from Kevin Durant and one apiece from Alperen Sengun and Jabari Smith Jr. in the team’s last eight games.
This is a bad matchup for the Mavs on paper, which probably means they’ll find themselves in a four-point game down the stretch, so be sure to tune in! Dallas has somehow won two of three matchups with Houston this year, falling 110-102 in Houston on Nov. 3, before beating the Rockets 122-109 in one of the team’s best wins of the year on Dec. 6 and following that up with a 110-104 win at the AAC earlier this month.
Here are three storylines to watch when the Mavs visit the Rockets on Saturday in a nationally televised game.
The Davis deficit
Anthony Davis led the Mavericks in scoring in both the Mavericks’ wins over the Rockets this season. He will famously be unavailable for the fourth and final meeting between these two teams. Davis scored 29 points and grabbed eight rebounds in Dallas’ win in early December, then had 26 and 12 in the Mavericks’ first win of 2026. He would injure his finger five days later while brushing his hand on Lauri Markannen’s jersey as Markannen scored an easy bucket at the tail end of Dallas’ 116-114 loss at the Utah Jazz.
Without Davis’ presence inside, it will be tough for the Mavericks to manufacture as solid a night on the boards as Dallas had in the most recent game against the Rockets, when Houston out-rebounded Dallas by a slim 51-47 margin.
Flagg has had down games in two of the three games against the Rockets this year. He scored 12 points and grabbed five boards in the Nov. 3 matchup, then had 19 and five on Dec. 6 before managing just 10 points on 3-of-12 shooting in the most recent meeting. The Rockets sit at fifth in the NBA in defensive rating (111.9) coming into the game and feature several long defenders capable of disrupting shooters and bottling up driving threats like Flagg. Coming off his 49-point outburst against the Hornets, it will be interesting to see if Flagg can follow it up against a better defense without the motivation of playing against his friend, former roommate and closest competition for this season’s Rookie of the Year award, Kon Knueppel.
Broad side of a barn
Which team will have the shooting edge on Saturday? Looking at these teams’ season averages may lead you to a different conclusion than looking at their shooting in the last four games. Houston enters as the eighth-best 3-point shooting team in the league, at just over 37% on 3-point attempts, while Dallas has struggled all year from deep, shooting just over 32%. That puts Dallas at 25th in the league this year.
Houston, despite winning three of their last four, has hit a bit of a lull from long range, converting just 40 of their 117 (34.2%) 3-point looks in their last four games, while Dallas has matched their dismal season average, making 37-of-115 (32.1%) in the same short span. However, the recent four-game sample for the Mavericks includes a particularly bleak 3-of-18 outing on Wednesday against the Minnesota Timberwolves. Aside from that game, Dallas has been shooting it a little better recently.
Fits and starts
The Mavericks have been an up-and-down team this year, with the downs outnumbering the ups. They’ll follow a run of watchable ball with a fart-and-fall-down moment timed with comedic precision. It’s anybody’s guess what version of the team will trot out of the tunnel at Toyota Center on Saturday. The current scheduling stretch is a tough one, and though the results haven’t been there in the team’s last three, there have been moments that jump off the stat sheet and get the fan base chattering.
The Mavericks are giving fans just enough to keep true sickos engaged. The sane among us have found better ways to occupy their time as basketball’s winter of discontent settles in. Here’s hoping for something, anything to hold onto from Saturday’s game at the Rockets.
How to watch
The Mavericks and Rockets will tip off at 7:30 p.m. from Houston’s Toyota Center. The game will be nationally televised on ABC.
