Mavs Notebook: 5 Takeaways As Dallas Packs 'Boxing Gloves' On The Road

Is there anything the Dallas Mavericks can learn from their poor opening game at Houston as they move to Indianapolis for a 6 p.m. CT tipoff against the Pacers?

Our Mavs Notebook, with 5 Takeaways ...

Dallas went 0-of-14 from three-point range in the second quarter Wednesday night at Toyota Center, and the Houston Rockets scored 38 points in those 12 minutes.

Houston took a 70-38 lead into halftime. The Rockets won the season opener for both teams 128-110.

Cooper Flagg scored 32 points for Dallas. According to the Mavericks, it was the most points by a teenager in a season opener in NBA history. ... but as Kyrie Irving said, Houston put on the "boxing gloves'' in beating up the rebuilding Mavs.

Dallas led 18-13 after a Marcus Sasser three in transition with 5:10 left in the first quarter. That was the Mavericks' largest lead of the night. Houston closed the quarter on a 19-8 run and led 32-26 after one.

Houston played the last 2:47 of the first quarter and the rest of the night without Tari Eason. He was ejected for a flagrant 2 foul on P.J. Washington, who then missed both free throws.

In the second quarter, Dallas shot 4-of-19 from the field. Houston shot 13-of-19. The Mavericks committed 8 turnovers in the period, and the Rockets scored 11 points off them. Houston had 9 fast-break points in the quarter. Dallas had none.

Smith scored 11 of his 30 in those 12 minutes.

Kyrie Irving said Houston, a group that has played together for a year or two, came out and hit Dallas in the mouth.

"There was just the effort, just horrendous, man," Irving said. "Be honest with you, I don't want to use a graphic word to just negatively put it on just one person or even just myself. It was a total team effort. We were just horrendous defensively. When you score 12 points in an NBA game, give up 38, a few fast-break points and turnovers, it's just going to work like that."

"It was rough to go through, but I think we needed it," Irving continued. "It was necessary just for us to grow as a group, just develop this chemistry that we need moving forward in order to win basketball games."

Houston's lead reached 37 points, 95-58, on a Durant dunk in transition with 3:28 left in the third quarter. The Rockets finished with 29 fast-break points to Dallas' 17. Houston scored 32 points off 21 Mavericks turnovers.

Mavericks coach Dusty May said Dallas did not hold its composure after a couple of breaks went against it, and that the group let go of the rope.

"First and foremost, the communication, half court and full court," May said. "We've spent a lot of time. That was one of our priorities in training camp, was to fix the transition defense. We thought we had made strides, and tonight, when things weren't going well, we just — we let go of our principles. We lost our urgency."

"That was ultimately when the game got away from us, when they were just — we had three or four guys back, and we were assuming one guy was gonna match up with Jabari or whoever," May added. "Just to be honest, they did a better job."

Flagg went into halftime with 9 points on 2-of-8 shooting. In 9:08 of the second quarter, he was a minus-21.

Flagg said practice has gone well but the communication has died down in games, and that nobody, himself included, picked it up on defense Wednesday.

"I would say [we] got stagnant," Flagg said. "They obviously went on a run, and we just didn't have any answers. We weren't organized. We weren't getting back in transition. We just got out of the norm for us and what we've been doing since training camp started, and it showed. People were doing things that they don't normally do, and it really showed."

"It's definitely a big step [to get] out of that hole, and it's so deep, so early," Flagg detailed. "It's difficult. Down, what, 32 at halftime, 34? Like, it's not [ideal]. It's not where you want to be. And honestly, that's been the thing for us, is second quarter. It's like all preseason, it's been bad second quarter going into the half, kind of come out in the third quarter and dig ourselves out of a hole. So we gotta find ways to combat that and have better second quarters and leave off on a good foot going into that."

After halftime, Flagg scored 23 points on 8-of-9 shooting and went 7-of-9 from the free-throw line. He had 13 of them in the third quarter on 5-of-5 shooting.

He finished with 32 points, 5 rebounds, and 2 assists on 10-of-17 shooting in 32:56. Flagg went 11-of-13 from the line and added 3 steals and 1 block.

Flagg put part of the second quarter on himself. He could have done a better job getting Dallas into the right actions, and it did not have to be him taking the shots.

"Just being aggressive," Flagg explained. "I think some of us, we talked about going into the half, we had shot more threes than twos. And that's okay if you're making them, but we weren't knocking them down."

"So just getting to the rim, starting the domino effect of creating advantages again downhill, and they weren't over-helping too much," Flagg noted. "So just taking what they were giving us and getting to the rim and making a [play]."

His 13 free-throw attempts were half of Dallas' total.

May said Flagg was intentional about getting his teammates shots in the first half, and that more off-ball movement and a faster pace opened up the second half.

"That's been a point of emphasis, and that's one thing," May explained. "When we evaluated ourselves after four games, getting to the line wasn't something we did well. We thought Coop was probably the best way to capitalize on the paint. I thought he was strong. I thought he made good decisions, and when we started knocking down some open shots, his assist numbers will increase."

Irving had 15 points, 4 rebounds, and 2 assists on 6-of-9 shooting in 23:45. It was his first regular-season game since he tore the ACL in his left knee March 3, 2025, against the Sacramento Kings.

Before the game, Rockets coach Ime Udoka said Amen Thompson would take the primary assignment on Irving, the Houston Chronicle reported. May said Houston put two on the ball against Irving and that Irving made the right decisions.

Irving's first stint ended with 8:09 left in the first quarter. He is used to playing 10 to 12 minutes to open a game, and his minutes are lined up between him, the medical staff, and the coaching staff.

"Easy fix? In theory, but it really comes down to effort," Irving explained. "We can make a little bit of an excuse, but we just gotta take this one on the chin. They put on their boxing gloves and then beat us up pretty good in that second quarter, and we got off to a great start. Felt like we were in a rhythm, and then starting off that second quarter, I gotta do a better job leading us out and just not necessarily playing so timid and getting some shots up and aggressively attacking double teams."

"It surprised me a bit when [they] made some double teams at me coming off those screens, which, first game coming back, because I knew I was going to see some different looks," Irving continued. "I just got to adjust moving forward."

Irving scored 11 points on 4-of-4 shooting in the third quarter. He checked out for the night with 10:57 left in the fourth, Dallas trailing 103-78.

Dallas and Houston split two preseason games in Macao earlier this month. The Rockets won the first meeting, and Irving scored 17 points in his preseason return as the Mavericks took the second. Irving said Houston made adjustments from those games and wanted to make a statement on its home floor.

Dallas took 27 of its 42 first-half shots from three-point range and made 6. Houston outscored the Mavericks 32-14 in the paint before halftime.

The Mavericks responded after halftime, though not well enough for Irving.

"When you're getting down 30 and you start looking at the scoreboard," Irving said, "instead of hitting little singles and doubles, just quick hitters, getting points on the board, slowing the game down, we settled for a lot of three-pointers."

"Coming into halftime, we can't have more three-pointers than we have shot attempts at the rim," Irving added. "We gotta touch that paint, and [a] switching team like this is a great challenge. It was a great learning experience. So take our bumps and bruises and move on."

In the second half, 10 of Dallas' 37 attempts came from three. The Mavericks shot 27-of-37 after halftime and outscored Houston 38-18 in the paint.

Dallas won the third quarter 38-30 and the fourth 34-28. The Mavericks never got closer than 17.

Naji Marshall scored 11 of his 16 points in the second half and finished with 6 assists. Sasser said Dallas played with more pace after halftime, and that Houston was cross-matched a lot.

Sasser scored 17 points in 23:42 off the bench. He shot 6-of-8 from the field and 4-of-5 from three, with 14 of his points coming after halftime.

Flagg said Sasser dealt with an injury through most of the preseason and was not a full participant in practice for a lot of training camp. Sasser had drawn praise from May for his cutting and defense in camp.

Irving said Sasser was ultra aggressive and had a lot to do with Dallas getting back into the game as the other lead guard who could create and take pressure off him.

Wednesday's game was in the city where Sasser played four seasons of college basketball at Houston. Against the Rockets' length, he leaned on ball fakes, his speed, and being decisive, and he got a lot of open shots.

"Just being ultra aggressive," Sasser said. "I feel like I passed up a couple shots in the first half. So just trusting myself, and my teammates kept giving me confidence to shoot the ball, so that was the difference between first and second."

Dallas was without Dereck Lively II (foot surgery), Santi Aldama (knee surgery), and Tarik Biberović (heel bursitis). They were among five Mavericks listed inactive with injuries.

The Mavericks (0-1) visit the Indiana Pacers on Friday at Gainbridge Fieldhouse, with tip-off at 6 p.m. CT. Dallas opens its home schedule Saturday against the San Antonio Spurs at 6 p.m. CT.