Although the Mavericks lost Thursday’s game at Golden State, No. 1 overall pick Cooper Flagg continued his impressive run of recent play, finishing with 27 points (on 13-of-21 shooting), six rebounds, five assists and one block in 36 minutes.
According to the Mavs (Twitter link), Flagg became just the third rookie in NBA history rookie to record a 25-5-5 stat line on Christmas Day, joining Oscar Robertson (1960) and Pete Maravich (1970).
In a post-game interview with ESPN’s Malika Andrews (Twitter video link), Warriors superstar Stephen Curry spoke highly of Flagg, who recently turned 19 years old.
“Just a true hooper,” Curry said. “Competitor. We forget how young he is, just his presence out there on the court. The future is bright. I’m glad he got this experience his first year to understand what the bright lights feel like. The league is in good hands.”
Here are a few more notes on the Mavericks:
- The Mavs didn’t just drop yesterday’s game, they also lost star big man Anthony Davis to a right groin strain. While the injury is considered relatively mild, the 32-year-old is expected to miss multiple games. Davis is now ineligible for major postseason awards just 32 games into the season, per ESPN’s Bobby Marks (Twitter link). In addition to the 16 contests Davis has missed, he was also forced to leave a pair of games early due to injuries and didn’t meet the 15-minute minimum requirement in either of those appearances in order for them to count toward his games played total for awards purposes, Marks notes.
- According to Jeff Stotts of InStreetClothes.com (Twitter link), this is the 13th groin-related injury of Davis’ 14-year career. The veteran forward/center has missed an average of 2.7 games (eight days) due to his various groin ailments, Stotts adds, a bit better than the league average for a nondescript groin strain (3.6 games and 9.7 days).
- Klay Thompson returning to the Bay Area was supposed to be part of the appeal of Christmas Day matchup between the Mavs and Warriors, but it’s clear both sides have moved on a year-and-a-half after the 35-year-old wing landed with Dallas via sign-and-trade, writes Marcus Thompson II of The Athletic. “They are an opponent,” said Klay Thompson, who finished with seven points on 3-of-8 shooting in 26 minutes. “Why would I look at any other team other than the Mavericks like that? It’s just the nature of the business.”