The three-point column beside Cooper Flagg’s name was a perfect zero. The scoring column was anything but empty.
Flagg scored 33 points on 13-of-19 shooting, converting 13 of 15 attempts inside the arc while missing four threes, as the Dallas Mavericks defeated the Houston Rockets 116-111 on Friday at American Airlines Center. The performance gave Dallas a valuable answer to a familiar basketball problem: a cold perimeter night does not have to turn a primary creator into a spectator.
It also came with an asterisk large enough to clog the lane. Making 13 of 15 two-point attempts is extraordinary conversion, not a nightly blueprint. The enduring value of the performance was the variety around it. When the three-point line offered nothing, Flagg kept finding other ways to reach the basket, the middle of the floor and the foul line.
In the first quarter alone, Flagg scored with a turnaround, running pull-up, close finish and other intermediate jumpers. Those were different kinds of baskets. The early work yielded 12 points, giving Dallas production before it had any reason to expect that missing every three would remain the story of his night.
He kept using the floor inside the arc rather than requiring that one category to improve first.
Flagg also blocked Clint Capela’s dunk attempt at 7:10 of the first quarter, a defensive play that fit the larger burden he carried. He finished with nine rebounds, six assists, two steals and a block. Three turnovers and a 7-of-10 night at the free-throw line kept the performance from becoming a perfectly polished box-score exhibit, but they also make the 33 points more instructive.
Dallas won while its leading scorer handled several jobs beyond simply converting shots.
The free throws made a useful companion to the two-point shooting. Flagg went 7 of 10 at the line, productive without being automatic. A missed three did not prevent him from collecting points there, either.
The imperfections matter: his three turnovers and missed foul shots cost opportunities even on a night when nearly every two-pointer went in. Dallas needed the whole scoring package, rather than a claim that any part of it had become foolproof.
His middle stretch showed that reducing three-point production is different from abandoning offensive range. In the second quarter, Flagg missed a pull-up before scoring on a running dunk assisted by Kyrie Irving. The third quarter brought a driving layup, two separate trips to the line and a pull-up late in the period.
He also assisted Irving on a three and set up Max Christie for a dunk. Dallas benefited from Flagg being both a scorer defenders had to track and a passer they had to respect.
