Mavs Notebook: 6 Takeaways With Back-to-Back Hopes Of Win Streak

Caleb Martin grabbed a Michael Porter Jr. miss and made a 22-foot running shot on a pass from Kyrie Irving 21 seconds into Sunday night's game at American Airlines Center. The Dallas Mavericks did not trail the Brooklyn Nets at any point after that and won 130-93.

Brooklyn tied it once, at 2-2. Dallas led by as many as 37, scored at least 30 points in all four quarters, and finished with its highest point total of the season.

The Mavericks (6-4) have won two straight since losses to Sacramento and San Antonio. The Nets fell to 2-8. ... all of which leads up to our 6-Takeaway Mavs Notebook ...

Cooper Flagg finished with 25 points on 8-of-13 shooting, 5 rebounds, and 12 assists in 28:25. His previous career high was 11 assists, according to the official scorer's report.

The 12th came on a Daniel Gafford dunk with 5:17 left in the third quarter. As a rookie last season, Flagg averaged 4.5 assists in 70 games.

Mavericks coach Dusty May told 105.3 The Fan in September that Flagg could get 10 or 15 assists in a game.

Flagg's passing was the first thing that impressed May when he studied him on film.

"Just making the right decisions," May said. "That's one thing that with Coop, you can play over the top of the defense. And so when they play our almost identical system defensively, we've seen it every day in practice. So we're more equipped to attack it than early in the season. But just his court vision, his unselfishness, lends itself to him having a lot of games like this."

None of his assists came in the first quarter. Flagg scored 14 points on 5-of-6 shooting in that period, including a 25-foot pull-up 3 with 0.9 seconds left, then handed out 7 assists in the second quarter and 5 more in the third.

Nothing about the night felt crazy to him.

"I think just get to my spots," Flagg said. "I thought we did a good job of implementing a couple of things. Knowing [the] game plan of how they were gonna guard us, and just trusting the game plan and trusting [myself to] get to my spots. Raising up and just finishing up."

Gafford scored 18 points on 7-of-8 shooting in 19:08. He added 5 rebounds and 3 blocks and made 4-of-6 free throws.

In the third quarter alone, he scored 11 points on 5-of-5 shooting. Flagg assisted on 5 of Gafford's 7 field goals, and Irving and Martin had one apiece.

Irving scored 21 points on 9-of-15 shooting and did not play in the fourth quarter.

Gafford goes into games prepared to catch anything around the rim.

"Offensively, they're just making my job easier," Gafford said. "At the end of the day, they got a lot of gravity out there on the floor. And when it comes to the game plan, guys are paying attention to details, and they're just making, taking some of the pressure off the two main guys that we have on the floor. Honestly, so just prepared to catch anything around the rim."

Gafford played 4:05 after halftime in Wednesday's 112-111 loss at San Antonio, with P.J. Washington spending long stretches at center. May said Gafford has strung together productive games, and that even the last two were not his best because of the opponent and the matchups.

"He's been our top screen assist guy tonight," May explained. "Him being able to set good screens and get behind the defense both were impressive. And then his catches and finishes."

"You see a lot of guys in the league catch it, and then a help-side defender comes over and puts their chest on them," May continued. "They're not able to go up over the top and finish with good balance. And Gaff had some really, really nice finishes tonight. Even one, he kind of had a little 180 after he got bumped. So his finishing around the rim is a weapon that we really need."

Dallas outscored Brooklyn 64-40 in the paint and made 32 of its 42 shots there. Brooklyn collapsed a lot when the Mavericks got the ball inside.

"Causing confusion for them defensively. A lot of guard-to-guard screens slipping to the basket, and they collapsed a lot when it came to us having the ball inside," Gafford explained. "So it was a lot of sprays, and in general, just finishing around the basket. With them collapsing in so much, you got to go in, either dunk it or get an and-one at the end of the day."

Brooklyn shot 31-of-80 from the field (38.8%) and 11-of-39 from 3-point range (28.2%).

Porter scored 15 of his 19 points in the first quarter and made 3-of-5 from deep in that period. Over the second and third quarters, he went 1-of-9 for 4 points. He sat the entire fourth.

Julius Randle had 13 points, 4 rebounds, and 4 assists for the Nets. He was minus-33 in 30:16.

When a team switches as much as Dallas does, its players have to know the tendencies of basically the entire opposing roster.

"I thought we probably had graded it an A-minus, B-plus on our scouting report discipline," May said. "We knew the tendencies, and when you switch as much as we do, it's easier said than done to know the tendencies, because you need to know them for basically the entire roster, because you'll be switched on anyone at any time."

"I thought tonight we had good discipline," May continued. "I thought we were active. I thought our hand activity and communication was as good as it's been. And like I said, those things have to be constant. Whether you're making shots, you're missing shots, those are the things we've been able to hang our hat on."

On the other end, Dallas shot 48-of-84 (57.1%), 14-of-35 from 3-point range (40%), and 20-of-22 at the line (90.9%). It also committed 21 turnovers. Brooklyn turned those into 25 points.

May said Sunday was the first time this season Dallas strung together four consistent, well-played quarters.

"Obviously, if we shoot the ball like that with the way we're defending now, we're gonna have a chance to win each and every night," May said. "But some nights the ball's not gonna drop. We made our free throws. We got to the line. We still have some work to do as far as not turning the ball over when you're shooting like we are. If we manage to clean up some of those turnovers, I think we still have a jump to make."

Santi Aldama scored a bench-high 12 points on 5-of-7 shooting in 14:39. He made 2-of-4 from deep. Both of his fourth-quarter baskets were dunks.

Sunday was his second game with Dallas. Aldama had 8 points and 9 rebounds in his debut Friday against Utah, his first game since Feb. 4 last season with Memphis.

He had right knee surgery in March. The Mavericks acquired the 7-footer this summer in a six-team trade.

Dallas' bench outscored Brooklyn's 58-31. Zaccharie Risacher had 11 points and 6 rebounds, Morez Johnson Jr. grabbed 9 rebounds, and Walter Clayton Jr. handed out 6 assists.

With back-to-backs and road trips on the schedule, Dallas needs as many live bodies as possible.

"The one thing that I didn't realize," May said. "I'd watched Santi. I'd seen him play for the Spanish national team when he was 17, and had seen him play throughout the different stages of his career, and really respected him as a player. I didn't realize he was a psycho competitor like he is. He's a competitive dude. He's fiery, and so I think that dimension is really, really good for this group as well."

"You're playing 82 games, and the more competitive guys that just love to compete, the better team competitive spirit you're going to have," May continued. "And Santi brings that in addition to his obvious ability to shoot it and make decisions and communicate and things like that."

Martin started alongside Irving, Flagg, Washington, and Gafford. His opening basket was the only one he made, and he finished with 2 points on 1-of-3 shooting, 2 rebounds, and 2 assists in 19:13. Dallas was plus-11 with him on the floor.

Both assists came during a 44-second stretch of the third quarter, on a Gafford dunk and a Washington 3.

Irving sat out the second night of Dallas' first back-to-back, the Oct. 24 home opener against San Antonio. He also missed the Nov. 2 loss to Sacramento.

Dallas has a lot of good players, and deciding which ones to go with is not easy.

"We tinkered with a number of different guys in that spot," May said. "And we just felt like with our team, especially on nights Kyrie's not playing, and we don't know exactly when those are going to be, we thought Caleb gives us the best chance to be elite defensively, and from a toughness standpoint. And we also felt like the other four guys are scoring at a high clip, that we needed someone to kind of give themselves up and connect the group by also still being a threat."

"He banged in his first jump shot. After that, I thought he played really, really well," May continued. "And there's going to be some games when he steps up and gives us 15 or whatever the case, because that's what the game dictates. But I thought tonight he did what he does. He played a very good floor game. He's bright out there. We need his voice on both sides of the ball. We just have a lot of really good players, and it's tough to decide which ones to go with. But we just feel like with that group, he allows us to be big, to be physical, and have a real defensive presence, but also have a high basketball IQ on the offensive end."

Flagg made 3-of-5 from deep Sunday. The last one was a 24-foot pull-up 30 seconds into the fourth quarter, on a pass from Clayton.

During his rookie season, he shot 29.5% from 3-point range on 3.5 attempts per game.

He was 5 rebounds short of a triple-double. Flagg thought a couple of his tipped rebounds should have counted.

"I think personally, I guess to an extent, you always are evaluating your stats and seeing what areas you're good in and where you need to improve," Flagg explained. "But also, to an extent, I think I don't overanalyze any of the stats or the numbers or percentages. I think the coaching staff, my teammates, they voice their confidence in me and what I can do. So I kind of forget about all that."

"I'm just out there trying to play and trying to win and compete at the highest level," Flagg continued. "And whatever the right play looks like to me in the moment, I'm trusting my instincts, trusting my gut, and I think my coach and my teammates have my back on that. Like the three-point percentage, obviously hasn't been great, but I still trust myself. I think my teammates trust me, my coaches. So I'm gonna keep shooting it, and I worked on it all summer. I worked on it all last year, so I'm not worried about anything."

Dallas hosts the Indiana Pacers (3-7) on Monday at 7 p.m. CT at American Airlines Center. The game airs on KFAA and MavsTV. The Mavericks won the first meeting 121-105 in Indianapolis on Oct. 23.