{"id":699704,"date":"2026-04-05T14:49:14","date_gmt":"2026-04-05T14:49:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/699704\/"},"modified":"2026-04-05T14:49:14","modified_gmt":"2026-04-05T14:49:14","slug":"flagg-kidd-williams-vs-magic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/699704\/","title":{"rendered":"Flagg, Kidd & Williams vs. Magic"},"content":{"rendered":"

DHJ Quick Take: Magic vs. Mavericks<\/p>\n

Historic Individual Brilliance, Collective Struggle: Cooper Flagg delivered the greatest scoring performance by a teenager in NBA history, dropping 51 points on 19-of-30 shooting. However, the Dallas Mavericks couldn\u2019t overcome an Orlando Magic offense that carved them up for 35 assists and 138 points, extending Dallas\u2019s franchise-record home losing streak to 14 games.<\/p>\n

The \u201cRare Air\u201d of the #1 Pick: Cooper Flagg joined Michael Jordan and Allen Iverson as the only rookies since the merger with three or more 40-point games. His six triples and assertive pull-up game signaled a massive developmental leap, proving he is the undisputed Rookie of the Year favorite despite the team\u2019s 24-53 record and 6th-best lottery odds.<\/p>\n

Chaos and the \u201cRookie Whistle\u201d: The night was defined by the fourth-quarter ejections of Jason Kidd and Naji Marshall, who were tossed while protesting a blatant no-call on a Cooper Flagg drive. Desmond Bane later admitted he was intentionally trying to foul the rookie, fueling the narrative of the \u201crookie whistle\u201d that overshadowed the final minutes at the AAC.<\/p>\n

DALLAS \u2014 Cooper Flagg<\/a> scored a career-high 51 points Friday night against the Orlando Magic, becoming the youngest player in NBA history to reach that mark in a single game. Flagg, coach Jason Kidd<\/a>, and Brandon Williams<\/a> all spoke to the media afterward.<\/p>\n

Flagg was characteristically measured when asked about the milestone, deflecting praise toward the bigger picture for the Dallas Mavericks<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s cool,\u201d Flagg said. \u201cI think it just speaks to who I am and the confidence I have in myself, and the confidence the people around me have in me. It\u2019s about improvement \u2014 just grinding and getting better all year.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kidd, who was ejected early in the fourth quarter along with Naji Marshall<\/a>, watched Flagg cross 50 from the locker room.<\/p>\n

\u201cI started in the office and then went to the locker room with Naji and P.J. to watch,\u201d Kidd said. \u201cYou could hear the announcer with Coop, so they kind of gave us a heads-up of what was coming. It was a lot of excitement in the back watching him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kidd did not hold back when assessing Flagg\u2019s place among the game\u2019s elite rookies.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s a rookie \u2014 he should be Rookie of the Year,\u201d Kidd said. \u201cThe country is not watching the same thing that we get to watch on a daily basis. He\u2019s in rare air. He\u2019s with the GOAT when you talk about MJ and what he did in his rookie year as a teenager.\u201d<\/p>\n

Williams, who scored 23 points himself Friday, said Flagg\u2019s assertiveness in the fourth quarter stood out even among teammates who watch him every night.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe had like 38 with four minutes left, so it just kind of turned on like a switch,\u201d Williams said. \u201cI like to see that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Williams and others have made a point of encouraging Flagg to let it fly from 3-point range, where he set a career high with six makes Friday.<\/p>\n

\u201cMe and P.J. were telling him to shoot the ball,\u201d Williams said. \u201cHe turns down a lot of them, but shooting the three is only going to open his game a lot more.\u201d<\/p>\n

Watch the full postgame interviews below.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

For full coverage of Friday\u2019s game, read our game recap at Dallas Hoops Journal<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"DHJ Quick Take: Magic vs. Mavericks Historic Individual Brilliance, Collective Struggle: Cooper Flagg delivered the greatest scoring performance…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":699705,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3779],"tags":[7,48,6,47,76,3883],"class_list":{"0":"post-699704","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-orlando-magic","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-magic","10":"tag-nba","11":"tag-orlando","12":"tag-orlando-magic","13":"tag-orlandomagic"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/699704","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=699704"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/699704\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/699705"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=699704"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=699704"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=699704"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}