Mavs 1 Major Problem From Last Season Is Becoming a Strength

Last season was a grind for the Mavericks and the worst part was how often they remained in games they eventually lost.

Dallas played 45 clutch games in 2025-26, tied for the most in the NBA. A team that finished 26-56 was somehow in a one-possession game almost every other night and it kept losing them. The Mavericks went 17-28 in those situations, with 13 losses coming by two possessions or fewer. For a roster already short on talent, the inability to close games turned a bad season into a brutal one.

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Cooper Flagg was on the floor for 39 of those games as a rookie and his numbers reflected a teenager learning on the job. He averaged 2.3 points in clutch minutes on 43.1 percent shooting and 30 percent from 3-point range, with a minus-0.8 net rating. Dallas went 15-24 when he played in those situations.

Eleven games into his second season, that has changed completely.

Flagg has played four clutch games and Dallas has won three of them. He is averaging 6.8 points in those minutes while shooting 84.6 percent from the field and 50 percent from 3-point range, with a plus-1.5 net rating.

Flagg ranks fourth in the NBA in total clutch points with 27, trailing only Ty Jerome, Tyrese Maxey and Zion Williamson. His 89% true shooting in clutch minutes is the best mark among players in the top 10 and he has produced it in 18 clutch minutes, less than half the time Williamson has needed.

Monday night against Indiana was the clearest example yet.

Flagg finished with 43 points, 10 rebounds, six assists and three steals in a 125-122 win, but the distribution of those points matters more than the total. He scored Dallas' first 13 points of the fourth quarter, starting with the basket that tied the game at 93 and finished with 16 in the period. His basket with less than 30 seconds remaining pushed the lead to four and effectively decided the game.

Kyrie Irving added 35 points and seven 3-pointers. The two combined for 26 fourth-quarter points as the Mavericks outscored the Pacers 35-29 in the final period.

The Miami game two weeks earlier followed a similar pattern. Flagg recorded 29 points, 11 assists, six rebounds, four steals and two blocks in a 113-109 win at Kaseya Center, with much of the damage coming late. The sequence that decided the game came when he closed out on Andrew Wiggins, blocked his 3-point attempt, then pushed the ball the other way and finished at the rim.

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What makes the improvement believable rather than a small-sample illusion is the shot quality behind it. Flagg is not hunting difficult isolation jumpers in those minutes. He is getting to the rim, drawing fouls and taking advantage of the attention Irving commands. That is exactly what a 19-year-old should be doing while learning how to close games.

The Mavericks sit at 7-4 after a stretch in which closing games has made the difference. The team no longer appears to tighten up when the score gets close.

The schedule will test that progress soon enough. For now, the number that defined Dallas' worst season in years has become one of its strengths.