Former Duke Star Cooper Flagg Goes Off for 43 Points vs. Pacers

Former Duke Blue Devils star Cooper Flagg scored a season-high 43 points Monday night, and the Dallas Mavericks erased a 13-point deficit to beat the Indiana Pacers 125-122 at American Airlines Center.

Flagg added 10 rebounds, 6 assists, 3 steals, and a block. He went 16-of-25 from the field, 3-of-6 from 3-point range, and 8-of-8 from the free-throw line.

According to the Mavericks' basketball communications department, Flagg became the second teenager in NBA history to record at least 40 points, 10 rebounds, and 5 assists in a game. Kevin Durant was the first, doing it for the Seattle SuperSonics in the final game of the 2007-08 season.

Monday was the fifth 40-point game of Flagg's career, according to ESPN. He is 19.

“It’s unbelievable he’s a 19-year-old doing this,” Mavericks coach Dusty May said.

Pascal Siakam scored 26 of his 29 points in the first half for Indiana. The Pacers went up 63-50 in the second quarter and took a 66-56 lead into the break.

Flagg scored 30 of his 43 points after halftime. In the third quarter alone, he went 6-of-6 from the field for 14 points, and Dallas trailed only 93-90 entering the fourth.

Flagg and Kyrie Irving scored Dallas' first 13 points of the final quarter and finished with 26 of the Mavericks' 35 in the period. With under a minute left, Flagg hit two pull-up jumpers from 18 feet. Irving made two free throws with 18 seconds remaining for the final margin.

P.J. Washington missed two free throws with 4 seconds left. On the inbound that followed, Caleb Martin stole Andrew Nembhard's pass.

Irving, 34, finished with 35 points on 11-of-18 shooting, including 7-of-10 from 3-point range, in 38 minutes. He was playing the second night of a back-to-back for the first time this season after missing all of last season with a torn ACL.

“Tonight me and Kai had it going,” Flagg said. “There’s hopefully going to be a lot of nights like that.”

Irving also played at Duke, appearing in 11 games in 2010-11 before the Cleveland Cavaliers took him first overall in 2011. 

Irving counts himself among the teammates Flagg's passing has helped.

“We keep calling him a teenager, but he plays ways beyond his years,” Irving said. “Gotta give him his flowers. The way he’s always in attack mode, the way he sees the game and he gets others involved — very selfless, it helps out our team a lot, including myself. Just seeing him being able to make plays for others, but also when he’s calling his own number, he’s getting in that paint and trying to get the most efficient shot possible.”

Through 11 games, Flagg is averaging 25.9 points, 6.9 rebounds, 6.9 assists, and 2.0 steals on 50% shooting, according to ESPN. Dallas is 7-4.

Much of that has come from midrange. ESPN, citing NBA.com tracking data, reported that Flagg has made 29 of his 49 attempts between 10 and 19 feet this season, a 59.2% clip.

“I think just being able to get to my spots at a higher level and being more comfortable with that has allowed me to take a little bit of load off my body,” Flagg explained. “Just kind of stop it short, raising up over people. It’s taxing to get downhill all the way to the rim and try and finish over 7-footers all night every night. I think just adding that in there, it definitely allows me to pace myself a little bit.”