Cooper Flagg scored 45 points and outshone LeBron James' 30-15 night as the Dallas Mavericks snapped a 14-game home losing streak with a 134-128 win.
DALLAS — Cooper Flagg has been doing this for weeks. Sunday night, he did it against LeBron James.
Flagg scored 45 points, and the Dallas Mavericks snapped a 14-game home losing streak — the franchise's longest in 32 years — with a 134-128 victory over the injury-diminished Los Angeles Lakers at a sellout American Airlines Center.
The 19-year-old rookie added eight rebounds and nine assists in 38 minutes, becoming the first first-year player with back-to-back 40-point games since Allen Iverson in the 1996-97 season. Two nights earlier, Flagg had dropped 51 on Orlando, making him the first NBA teenager ever to reach the 50-point mark.
"It's a dream come true," Flagg said of facing James. "These are the moments, these are the times — to be able to match up against somebody like that."
He stayed in the moment, too. When MVP chants broke out during late free throws, Flagg took them in stride. When the final buzzer sounded, he went straight for James to offer respect. Then he grabbed a Reese's egg from the postgame spread and called it a night.
James, 41 and in his record 23rd season, was magnificent in a losing effort. He finished with 30 points, nine rebounds, and 15 assists — a new season high — becoming the third-oldest player in NBA history to record a 30-15 game. He dunked twice in the final minutes of the second quarter and completed an alley-oop slam off a Luke Kennard lob to trim Dallas' lead to 72-70 early in the third. The Lakers got no closer.
"Before we put LeBron to rest, he is showing the world at the age of 41 that he can still play the game at a high level," Mavericks coach Jason Kidd said.
Los Angeles played without Luka Dončić (left hamstring strain) and Austin Reaves (left oblique strain), both of whom were hurt in a blowout at Oklahoma City on Thursday and are done for the regular season. Dončić leads the NBA in scoring. Reaves is the Lakers' second option. Their absence was apparent early — Dallas rattled off 41 first-quarter points, built a 22-point lead before halftime, and never relinquished control despite LA's relentless attempts to claw back.
Kennard stepped into a starring role. The reserve guard finished with 15 points, a career-high 16 rebounds, and 11 assists — his first career triple-double — playing 41 minutes in a lineup held together with scotch tape. He set the alley-oop for James' signature moment of the night and kept the Lakers competitive long after it seemed hopeless.
Jaxson Hayes added 23 points off the bench for Los Angeles, and Rui Hachimura chipped in 21.
Dallas still needed to survive. The Mavericks blew most of their cushion in the second quarter, when James scored 16 and the Lakers cut it to six at intermission. A shorthanded LA team came within five in the fourth before Flagg buried an eight-foot turnaround with three and a half minutes left to push it back to 10.
P.J. Washington made his presence felt in the second half, scoring 13 of his 15 points after the break, including a pair of corner threes that steadied the Mavericks when they needed steadying. Returning from an absence, he finished 6-of-10 from the floor.
"It felt great to be out there and contribute to a win," Washington said. "For him, the future is super bright. He's doing such great things at 19 — I can't imagine what he looks like at 25."
Brandon Williams ran the offense with purpose, tallying 13 points and five assists. Klay Thompson hit three threes off the bench. Dallas turned it over just seven times.
"When we do take care of the ball, we get good looks," Kidd said. "Tonight's another example of that."
The home losing streak had stretched back to January, outlasting coaching adjustments and lineup shuffles. It was the team's longest home skid since losing 19 straight to open the 1993-94 season at the since-demolished Reunion Arena. Sunday marked the first sellout crowd to see a Mavericks win at American Airlines Center in months.
They got what they came for. Flagg went 14-of-27 from the floor, 15-of-17 from the free-throw line, and answered every Lakers run. He scored Dallas' first points of the game — a 17-foot pull-up 30 seconds in — and its last ones, knocking down a pair of free throws with 1:09 to play to make it a nine-point game.
Asked whether the back-to-back 40-point outings were his way of making a statement in the Rookie of the Year race, Flagg kept it simple.
"Just being grateful. Being grateful for the opportunity, the situation I'm in, and just trying to take advantage of it," Flagg said.
Kidd framed it the same way. The Mavericks coach noted that Flagg has drawn opposing teams' top defenders all season — every assignment made harder by the spotlight attached to a No. 1 overall pick on a rebuilding team. The 19-year-old has answered each time.
"He's just doing what he's been doing all season," Kidd said. "He's never complained, and he's delivered for us."
Dallas plays four games to close the regular season with no playoff positioning on the line. The Mavericks visit the Los Angeles Clippers on Tuesday.