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Cooper Flagg is now the youngest NBA player to achieve a 50-point game
The athlete earned 51 points in the Dallas Mavericks’ home game against the Orlando Magic on April 3, despite his team’s loss
The rookie broke Brandon Jennings’ 2009 record, continuing his streak of making NBA history
Cooper Flagg has made history.
Despite the Dallas Mavericks’ 138-127 home loss to the Orlando Magic on Friday, April 3, the rookie No. 1 pick had a career-best game — and made history in the process, becoming the youngest player in NBA history to have a 50-point game, according to the sports league.
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Flagg, 19, earned 51 points against the Magic at the American Airlines Center, becoming “the youngest EVER to drop a 50-piece,” the NBA said. He was also the first teenager to ever achieve the feat.
Before the Mavericks star’s high-scoring game, the NBA record was previously held by Brandon Jennings, who scored 55 points as a rookie guard for the Milwaukee Bucks in 2009, per The New York Times. Jennings, now 36, was 20 years old at the time.
Cooper Flagg goes for a dunk on April 3
Credit: Richard Rodriguez/Getty
With the 51-point game — 24 of which were earned in the fourth quarter — on April 3, Flagg also became the ninth-ever rookie to have a 50-point game, according to SportsCenter.
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The NBA shared a locker-room clip of Flagg’s teammates dousing him in water and honoring him with the game ball after his achievement.
Mavericks head coach Jason Kidd — who was ejected from the game on a technical foul after arguing with referees over a call involving Flagg — said that the 19-year-old NBA record holder “should be [NBA] Rookie of the Year,” per the Times.
“The country is not watching the same thing we get to watch on a daily basis,” continued Kidd, adding that the rising star is “in rare air.”
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Cooper Flagg on April 3
Credit: Glenn James/NBAE via Getty
The 6-foot-9-inch teen from New England, affectionately nicknamed “The Maine Event,” has also played three games with 40 or more points so far this season — the most by a rookie since league legend Allen Iverson in the 1996-97 season, according to the NBA.
The teen rookie’s “spirit is about winning,” Kidd said, per the Times. “Right now, we’re not. But as he just said in the locker room, we are just going to be that much better come next season.”
The coach also said that despite the “extremely high” expectations on Flagg since he joined the league, he has “delivered.”
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Added Kidd of Flagg: “He’s checked every box every time he’s taken the floor.”
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Cooper Flagg on April 3
Credit: Richard Rodriguez/Getty
Speaking with PEOPLE in December, the then-18-year-old Mavericks star said he wants to win, and he is thankful to try to do so for a franchise that has been home to legends like Dirk Nowitzki and Luka Dončić.
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“I mean, I think that it’s cool to think about being able to play at a place like this,” Flagg told PEOPLE. “But for me it’s about just staying present, being in the moment and just being excited, day by day and handling business.”
At the time, the rookie added that “outside of all the craziness and everything that’s going on, it still boils down to being a kid and, and enjoying my life in as many ways as I can.”
Read the original article on People