{"id":657278,"date":"2026-03-14T04:07:18","date_gmt":"2026-03-14T04:07:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/657278\/"},"modified":"2026-03-14T04:07:18","modified_gmt":"2026-03-14T04:07:18","slug":"mavs-famine-continues-vs-cavs-but-cooper-flagg-gets-pop-back-in-rookie-of-year-race","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/657278\/","title":{"rendered":"Mavs\u2019 famine continues vs. Cavs, but Cooper Flagg gets \u2018pop back\u2019 in Rookie of Year race"},"content":{"rendered":"

Cleveland coach Kenny Atkinson\u2019s perspective of the NBA\u2019s two-player race for Rookie of the Year<\/a> admittedly was one-sided.<\/p>\n

Entering Friday night, the Cavaliers had faced Charlotte\u2019s Kon Kneuppel four times and were about to finally face Dallas\u2019 Cooper Flagg. Two times in three days, as a matter of fact.<\/p>\n

\u201cKnueppel, he\u2019s killed us,\u201d Atkinson said.<\/p>\n

Friday night was Flagg\u2019s chance to make a first impression on most Cavs. He delivered 25 points and a highlight dunk, but like many Dallas games these days, those and other Flagg qualities had to be gleaned amid the rubble of a one-sided loss, this one a 138-105 defeat in American Airlines Center.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI really feel I hadn\u2019t come back with my pop, like my athleticism has kind of been lacking since I got hurt and came back,\u201d Flagg said. \u201cI finally felt like I was getting my pop back a little tonight.\u201d<\/p>\n

Entering Friday, in five games since his return from a left foot sprain, Flagg averaged 15.6 points on 35% shooting. <\/p>\n

Yes, he got his pop back, especially with the third quarter windmill dunk coming straight down the lane, but it came in the Mavericks<\/a>\u2019 19th defeat in their last 22 games. <\/p>\n

This also was Dallas\u2019 ninth straight home defeat, the franchise\u2019s longest such drought since a 12-loss stretch during the 13-win season of 1993-94.<\/p>\n

Did we say drought? It\u2019s more like famine. Dallas hasn\u2019t won at home since Jan. 22<\/a>, a 51-day dearth, compounded by the fact the Mavericks scarcely have been here of late.<\/p>\n

Friday was Dallas\u2019 seventh game in seven different cities in a span of 11 days. After the Mavericks play at Cleveland Sunday and at New Orleans Monday to complete a four-games-in-five-day stretch, they will have played nine games in nine cities in 14 days \u2013 and 14 of 18 games on the road.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s the schedule, and we have to play it,\u201d Mavericks coach Jason Kidd said, \u201cbut to be home is always a good thing.\u201d <\/p>\n

Even if it\u2019s for less than 48 hours. It seemed helpful for Flagg, despite coming on the second game of a back-to-back, following Thursday\u2019s win at Memphis<\/a>. He only scored 6 first-half points Friday on 2-of-8 first-half, but he had 13 points in the third. The dunk with 7:38 left brought Dallas within 79-63. <\/p>\n

\u201cI thought you could see Cooper, he had a step tonight, in the sense of having played last night,\u201d Kidd said. \u201cI thought that effort was there. I thought his game picked up after his dunk. He started to be a little more aggressive.\u201d <\/p>\n

The Cavaliers and Atkinson noticed. Atkinson said it was clear that Flagg\u2019s dunk got the crowd into the game, but the Cavaliers (41-26) responded and carried a 25-point lead into the fourth. Not that it affected Atkinson\u2019s first impression of Flagg.<\/p>\n

\u201cBig-time player,\u201d Atkinson said. \u201cOne of the top players in the league. You just feel it, how he moves, poise, confidence.<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously the shooting will come with more reps and as he gets his body better. But how old is he? Nineteen? I\u2019m looking at it like he\u2019s 26 or 27. He\u2019ll be a great player in this league. It\u2019s easy to see.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kneuppel, in four games against Cleveland, averaged 25.2 points. On Sunday, Flagg has a chance to improve his 25-point average against the Cavs. Which rookie would get Atkinson\u2019s vote?<\/p>\n

\u201cHalf a vote for each,\u201d he said with a smile. \u201cThat\u2019s a tough one. They\u2019re both having great years.\u201d <\/p>\n

If it\u2019s hard for Atkinson, imagine the 100 media voters who will decide the Rookie of the Year race, which clearly has come down with Flagg and his ex-Duke teammate Knueppel<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Nowhere is it said that team performance is supposed to factor into ROY voting, but it will be hard for voters to ignore Charlotte\u2019s 34-33 record and reeling Dallas\u2019 22-45 mark.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s why it\u2019s imperative that Flagg in the Mavericks\u2019 last 15 games plays more like he did on Friday \u2013 and for most of this season prior to his foot injury.<\/p>\n

Flagg leads all rookies in scoring average (19.9), is seventh in rebounding (6.7) and second in assists (4.3).<\/p>\n

Knueppel is second among rookies in scoring (19.2), 11th in rebounding (5.3) and his 3-point percentage (.440) is far superior to Flagg\u2019s .294. Statistically, it\u2019s a dead heat.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve just got to keep getting back into the swing,\u201d Flagg said. \u201cIt\u2019s hard to play so much basketball, and then to miss three weeks like that was tough. It was different for me.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m going to just keep getting my body back into the rhythm and finish out these last 15 games.\u201d<\/p>\n

Is it a good sign that he got his pop back on the second game of a back-to-back?<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah,\u201d Flagg said with a smile. \u201cBecause it gives me a good idea that I\u2019m taking care of myself in the right way. I\u2019ve just got to stay at it and stay hungry and keep getting better.\u201d<\/p>\n

Flagg is flying! See photos from the Mavericks’ Friday night matchup with the Cavaliers<\/p>\n

\"DallasView GalleryMavs owner Miriam Adelson dwarfs Texas sports rivals in political giving, pushes gambling<\/a>Mavericks 2026 tank tracker: What are Dallas\u2019 chances of landing No. 1 pick in NBA draft?<\/a><\/p>\n

Find more Mavericks coverage from The Dallas Morning News here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Cleveland coach Kenny Atkinson\u2019s perspective of the NBA\u2019s two-player race for Rookie of the Year admittedly was one-sided.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":657279,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3772],"tags":[7,306,305,193,3846,225,149,166,6,66],"class_list":{"0":"post-657278","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cleveland-cavaliers","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-cavaliers","10":"tag-cleveland","11":"tag-cleveland-cavaliers","12":"tag-clevelandcavaliers","13":"tag-cooper-flagg","14":"tag-dallas-mavericks","15":"tag-mavericks","16":"tag-nba","17":"tag-sports"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116225563618510144","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/657278","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=657278"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/657278\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/657279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=657278"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=657278"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=657278"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}