Cooper Flagg finally seems to be settling into the heavy burden that comes with being a No. 1 overall pick in the draft. The Mavericks beat the Rockets 122-109 in a gruesome fashion after creating a 22-point difference in the fourth quarter that proved to be insurmountable for the Rockets down the stretch.
Following the game, Anthony Davis, who was bouncing back from one of the worst games of his career, spoke to the media scrum in the Mavericks’ locker room. He addressed how, even as a rookie, Cooper Flagg is holding him equally accountable, as the former NBA champion is holding the rest of the team accountable, as the veteran leader of the roster.
“He’s playing free. We just want everybody to play free. Obviously, he’s going to draw a lot of attention because of who he is, and he has a target on his back, and they’re gonna put the toughest wing defender on him, trying to pressure him and all that. He’s starting to figure out how to face the pressure and where his spots are on the floor. He’s making big plays.”
“I got onto him tonight about rebounding. He gave up a couple of offensive rebounds, and he only had five rebounds, and he looked at me and said, ‘Well, you only got five too.’ There was no excuse that I could give him, but he wants to be held accountable; he wants to be great,” concluded Davis.
Anthony Davis’ scoring and rebounding, combined with Cooper Flagg’s all-around performance, were clearly some of the positive takeaways from this game. When Davis tried to give Flagg a lesson about his rebounding, he was nearly speechless when he saw how quickly Flagg turned the tables on him.
The Mavericks managed to hand the Rockets their worst loss of the season. Davis finished the game with 29 points and 11 rebounds, while shooting an incredibly efficient 73.7% from the field (14-of-19).
Meanwhile, Cooper Flagg stuffed the box score and ended up with 19 points, five rebounds, three assists, two steals, and two blocks while shooting 7-of-15 from the field (46.7%).
After tonight’s performance against the Rockets, he is averaging 17.3 points, 6.3 rebounds, and 3.3 assists while shooting 47.5% from the field. Cooper Flagg has been trying his hardest over the past month and has finally yielded some fruit for him, considering that Flagg won the Rookie of the Month for November.
The Mavericks have won four of their last five games and have improved their record for the season to 9-16. They still have a long way to go before considering themselves a good team. But such spurts and changes in culture signal the possibility of the Mavericks figuring things out internally.
