Cooper Flagg recorded 19 points and 10 rebounds for his 12th double-double, but the Dallas Mavericks fell 123-99 to the Milwaukee Bucks on Tuesday night as Daniel Gafford exited with a right shoulder stinger.
MILWAUKEE — On the second night of a back-to-back, the Dallas Mavericks dressed only 11 players in Milwaukee. Suddenly, in the second quarter, they were down to 10.
Daniel Gafford played 11 minutes before a right shoulder stinger caused an early end to his night. Dallas lost any momentum from that point on as the Bucks won 123-99. Dallas is 24-52 with five games left on the schedule.
Ryan Rollins had 24 points, seven rebounds, and nine assists. Kyle Kuzma scored 20, and Milwaukee ended a four-game losing streak. The Bucks, who had lost 14 of their last 17 entering the night, have now won eight head-to-head matchups with Dallas and four straight in Milwaukee.
Klay Thompson, P.J. Washington, Naji Marshall, Marvin Bagley III, Kyrie Irving, Dereck Lively II, and Caleb Martin had all been ruled out before tip-off. Kidd wouldn't go into detail on Gafford's injury postgame, only saying he is hurt and that more information would come on Wednesday.
The Bucks put up 54 shots from beyond the arc and connected on 20 of them, and Dallas had no answer for it.
Milwaukee was up 65-51 at halftime before leading by as many as 31 in the fourth quarter. Ryan Rollins led the Bucks with 24 points, while Kyle Kuzma had 20. AJ Green added 17 off the bench. Gary Trent Jr. finished with 13, Pete Nance scored 11, and Myles Turner chipped in 10 with four blocks.
Cooper Flagg recorded 19 points and 10 rebounds for his 12th double-double of the season, one night after going 5-of-19 in a 124-94 home loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves. He came in averaging 22.5 points over his last nine games. He shot 6-of-19 on Tuesday, but he was more decisive than on Monday in getting downhill and creating for others even as the shots didn't fall. Dallas had a rough scoring night, shooting 35.4% from the field and 27.8% from three.
John Poulakidas knocked down a pair of threes in the first quarter and the deficit stood at seven, 38-31, heading to the second. He finished with a season-high 11 points in 27 minutes. Brandon Williams scored 12 of his 18 points in the first half and finished with six assists and two steals, opening the second half in the starting lineup.
The second quarter is where it got away from Dallas. Rollins hit back-to-back threes to trigger a 14-0 run, and five Mavericks turnovers in the frame led to 10 Milwaukee points. Dallas shot 1-of-10 from three in the quarter. The lead stretched to 23 in the third and 31 in the fourth before reserves closed it out.
With Gafford out, Moussa Cissé was the steadiest presence Dallas had. The rookie center finished with eight points, 13 rebounds, three steals, and two blocks in 22 minutes — the most meaningful outing of his season.
Bucks coach Doc Rivers offered an unsolicited assessment of Flagg's development postgame, specifically on Jason Kidd's decision to give the rookie time running point earlier in the season.
"That's just scary to think about," Rivers said, on the prospect of Flagg as a secondary ballhandler alongside Kyrie Irving. "You can see it all changing each game for him."
Flagg is adjusting to a game that has gotten more physical as the calendar flips to April.
"I think they definitely started to let more stuff go," he said. "It gets more physical — you know that's to be expected. You just gotta find ways to play through it."
The game was originally scheduled for January 25 before a North Texas ice storm forced a postponement.
Dallas hosts the Orlando Magic on Friday at American Airlines Center. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. CT.