For most of Monday night, the Dallas Mavericks looked like a team staring down a schedule loss. They were on the second night of a back-to-back, trailing the Indiana Pacers by 13 late in the first half at American Airlines Center. Then Cooper Flagg and Kyrie Irving decided the night belonged to them. The pair combined for 78 points, and Dallas escaped with a 125-122 win that said more about this team’s direction than any box score could.
Flagg finished with a season-high 43 points, 10 rebounds, six assists and three steals on 16-of-25 shooting. Irving added 35, going 7-for-10 from three-point range and finishing plus-29 in 38 minutes. Together they shot 27-of-43 from the field.
How the Fourth Quarter Was Won
Dallas trailed 93-90 after three quarters, and the closing stretch became a two-man relay. Irving’s 23-foot three gave the Mavericks a 98-97 lead they never surrendered. He later found Flagg for a 24-foot three that made it 113-108. Flagg scored 16 in the fourth, including a pull-up jumper over Andrew Nembhard with 26.3 seconds left that pushed the lead to two possessions.
The finish still got messy. Aaron Nesmith hit a late three for Indiana, P.J. Washington missed two free throws with four seconds left, and the Pacers had one last look. Caleb Martin ended it by stealing Nembhard’s inbounds pass with 0.9 seconds remaining. Pascal Siakam led Indiana with 29 points, nine rebounds and eight assists, and the Pacers fell to 3-8.
A Pairing Nobody Got to See Last Season
This is the first year Flagg and Irving have shared the floor. Irving tore his left ACL in March 2025 and missed all of Flagg’s rookie season, a campaign in which Flagg won Rookie of the Year while Dallas stumbled to 26-56. When the front office chose to keep the veteran guard rather than move him for assets that better fit a teenage star’s timeline, it was a calculated bet.
Eleven games in, that bet looks smart. Flagg is averaging 25.9 points, 6.9 rebounds and 6.9 assists, while Irving is at 22.9 points and shooting 39.5% from deep. Flagg credited Irving’s gravity for opening the floor, saying the veteran’s presence makes his life much easier. Irving, a nine-time All-Star, described his job as taking pressure off a young player who, in his words, plays well beyond his years.
Coach Dusty May pointed to something less visible: when he draws up a play for one star, the other never rolls his eyes. That kind of buy-in matters for a roster that still needs more consistent shooting and has a surplus of wings.
What Comes Next
The win was Dallas’ third straight and pushed the Mavericks to 7-4. Flagg, who turns 20 on Dec. 21, already owns the first 50-point game by a teenager in NBA history from last April. Now he has a partner who can carry the load when defenses load up on him.
The Mavericks open a three-game road trip Thursday in Minnesota. If the Flagg-Irving partnership keeps producing nights like this one, Dallas may be less a rebuilding project than a playoff team arriving ahead of schedule.
