Cooper Flagg reaches 1,000 career points in his return, but a late Magic surge seals the Mavericks' fifth straight loss.
ORLANDO — Cooper Flagg returned from an eight-game absence, scored 18 points, and reached 1,000 career points in his 50th NBA game. The Dallas Mavericks still lost.
Wendell Carter Jr. caught a pass from Jalen Suggs in transition and slammed home a dunk with 1.4 seconds left, lifting the Orlando Magic to a 115-114 win Thursday night at Kia Center. The loss extended Dallas's losing streak to five games and dropped the Mavericks to 21-41 on the season.
Flagg's three-point play with 37.3 seconds left had given Dallas a four-point lead. He blocked Carter at one end and converted the and-one on the other. Suggs answered with a three-pointer 32.2 seconds later to cut it to one. Flagg's midrange jumper with 10 seconds left rattled out, Carter finished the dunk on the other end, and Khris Middleton's inbounds pass on the final play led Flagg too far out of bounds.
"Tonight was tough because that game was completely in our hands," Klay Thompson said. "There's a couple mistakes that are going to sting until tomorrow's tipoff. But it's going to pay off huge dividends for our young players, especially Cooper."
Flagg's first basket — a putback at the 9:49 mark of the first quarter — gave him 1,000 career points at 19 years and 74 days old, making him the second-youngest player in NBA history to reach the milestone behind only LeBron James, who did so at 19 years and 41 days. Flagg also became the ninth player in NBA history to record 1,000 points, 300 rebounds, and 200 assists in his first 50 games. Since the 1976-77 merger, only Luka Dončić and Michael Jordan have done it.
"I think it symbolizes impacting the game in a lot of ways," Flagg said. "Being able to do a little bit of everything out there for my team and trying to impact winning at a high level. It's cool to be a part of something like that."
Flagg spent two years at Montverde Academy — about 30 minutes from Kia Center — where he won a national high school championship, and the crowd reflected it. Mavericks jerseys, Duke jerseys, and Montverde Academy shirts filled sections of the arena. He finished 7-of-22 from the field with four blocks, including the swat of Carter that set up the go-ahead and-one late. Coach Jason Kidd noted that a disputed no-call on a drive in the fourth quarter lit a fire under the rookie.
"When he got a little upset after the whistle — when he got hit — I thought his energy and intent picked up on the defensive end and he got us going," Kidd said.
Thompson came off the bench and finished with 24 points on 7-of-12 shooting from three — a season-high seven three-pointers — in his return from a right adductor contusion. Thursday's performance made him one of three players in NBA history to record 200 or more games with five or more three-pointers, joining Stephen Curry and James Harden. He also passed Ray Allen on the all-time three-point list.
"I don't think I passed Ray yet in the regular season because that is very meaningful to me," Thompson said. "He was one of the greatest shooting guards of all time, and he left a great imprint on the game. So to be even in the same sentence as him is a huge honor."
Middleton finished with 19 points and seven assists, scoring 10 of his 19 in the fourth quarter. Daniel Gafford had 12 points on 5-of-6 shooting with a game-high 13 rebounds and two blocks. P.J. Washington added 18 points on 4-of-7 shooting, going 3-of-4 from three. Ryan Nembhard contributed six points on 3-of-5 shooting with two rebounds and four assists in 14 minutes off the bench.
Dallas scored 62 points in the first half — up from 49 against Oklahoma City and 48 against Charlotte in the previous two games — with Flagg, Thompson, and Naji Marshall all back in the lineup together. Marshall, returning from a four-game absence with a right finger contusion, finished with six points on 2-of-10 shooting, going 2-of-2 from the free-throw line with four rebounds and five assists in 25 minutes. Brandon Williams did not play with a left quad contusion, while Marvin Bagley III remains sidelined due to a neck sprain.
Tristan da Silva led Orlando with 19 points on 7-of-7 shooting, going 4-of-4 from three in 20 minutes off the bench. Suggs finished with 17 points, seven assists, and two steals. Paolo Banchero had 16 points and 12 rebounds. Carter added 15 points and seven rebounds. Desmond Bane contributed 14 points, and Anthony Black scored eight.
Suggs said he considered pulling up for the three before deciding to push it to Carter on the roll.
"Dell did a good job flowing into the drag instead of just stalling out," Suggs said. "He was wide open. I thought about shooting it. Good roll and good finish by Dell. I think he made the play on that one, to be honest. All I had to do was facilitate it."
Additionally, Carter said he noticed Gafford trailing behind him in transition and used that read to set up the drag — knowing Dallas would be caught between guarding the roll and stopping the ball.
"I knew Gafford was behind me on the way down the court, so I thought it would've been a good idea to go into a quick drag to put them in no man's land," Carter said. "Jalen just found me on the roll, and I just finished the play."
Magic coach Jamahl Mosley, a former Mavericks assistant who was on the Team USA staff when Flagg scrimmaged against the Olympic roster as a 17-year-old in 2024, was asked about his team's ability to close out the game after Dallas had taken control.
"That's the beauty of the game — you have to play 48 minutes all the way through, no matter what is happening," Mosley said. "It could have gone down when they got the block or the and-one with Cooper Flagg. It is a game of runs."
Dallas has now played in its league-high 39th clutch game and continues to struggle to finish them. Kidd was asked what the team could take from another close loss.
"Even though we lost, we are winning because we've been in a lot of close games and we're just going to get better as we go forward," Kidd said.
Dallas continues the six-game road trip Friday night at the Boston Celtics, closing out the back-to-back. It will be Flagg's first game at TD Garden, the arena he grew up attending as a kid in Nokomis, Maine. Jayson Tatum is expected to make his season debut for Boston after missing nearly 10 months with a right Achilles tear.
"It's really the only arena I went to as a little kid," Flagg said. "I'm really excited. It's a great opportunity, and I'm just blessed."