{"id":490391,"date":"2026-03-07T03:15:20","date_gmt":"2026-03-07T03:15:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/490391\/"},"modified":"2026-03-07T03:15:20","modified_gmt":"2026-03-07T03:15:20","slug":"cooper-flaggs-homecoming-hindered-by-mavericks-6th-straight-loss-jayson-tatums-return","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/490391\/","title":{"rendered":"Cooper Flagg\u2019s homecoming hindered by Mavericks\u2019 6th straight loss, Jayson Tatum\u2019s return"},"content":{"rendered":"

BOSTON \u2014 The stakes paled in comparison to the 2024 NBA Finals, but Friday\u2019s primetime showdown between the Dallas Mavericks<\/a> and Boston Celtics carried a heightened sense of emotion for both teams.<\/p>\n

Cooper Flagg rocked a neon green colorway of the New Balance Hesi Low v2 sneakers to commemorate his homecoming at TD Garden<\/a>, the closest NBA arena to his hometown of Newport, Maine. His teammate Naji Marshall donned a blue T-shirt displaying the phrase \u201cIn Flagg We Trust\u201d during his pregame routine to celebrate the occasion. <\/p>\n

Related<\/p>\n

\"Dallas<\/p>\n

The Mavericks rookie received an electric ovation from the home crowd at TD Garden, but those same Celtics fans delivered a raucous level of applause for Jayson Tatum, who played his first NBA game in 298 days since tearing his right Achilles<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Mavericks<\/p>\n

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The six-time All-Star forward overcame a rusty start and nearly finished with a triple-double to help the Celtics trounce the Mavericks, 120-100.<\/p>\n

Flagg gear of all sorts was sprinkled throughout the arena, including his throwback high school jersey at Montverde Academy, his royal blue No. 2 from Duke and his No. 32 Mavericks uniform that he wears today. The support was apparent for Maine\u2019s native son<\/a>, but Tatum\u2019s comeback story and production helped lift the second-seeded Celtics to another victory.<\/p>\n

Tatum failed to convert on his first six shots, several barely grazing the rim, before he caught a putback from a missed 3-pointer by Payton Pritchard. He threw the tip-slam in with two hands, but hung on the basket with one as Celtics fans rejoiced all over the arena. Tatum followed up immediately with a sidestep 3-pointer, the beginning of his comeback story that led to a night of 15 points, 12 rebounds and seven assists.<\/p>\n

Tatum received a standing ovation once he checked out of the game for good with five minutes left and the Celtics sitting comfortably with a 25-point lead.<\/p>\n

Friday marked another rough offensive night for Flagg, who played his second consecutive game coming off a left midfoot sprain that caused him to miss eight games between Feb. 10 and Thursday night in Orlando.<\/p>\n

The Mavericks held their breath in the first quarter when Flagg appeared to reaggravate his foot injury. Mavericks coach Jason Kidd called a timeout for Flagg to be evaluated by the training staff. After a few exercises and some time on the elliptical bike, Flagg returned in the second quarter.<\/p>\n

He finished with 16 points, eight rebounds and six assists and five fouls.<\/p>\n

Twitter\/X: @MikeACurtis2<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Dallas<\/a>Stars, Mavericks trade blows in court over dueling lawsuits<\/a><\/p>\n

If Friday\u2019s fireworks are an indication, the AAC tenants\u2019 case seems destined for jury trial.<\/p>\n

\"Boston<\/a>Celtics star Jayson Tatum to make season debut against the Mavericks<\/a><\/p>\n

Tatum will play in his first game almost 10 months after having surgery to repair a ruptured Achilles tendon.<\/p>\n

Find more Mavericks coverage from The Dallas Morning News here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BOSTON \u2014 The stakes paled in comparison to the 2024 NBA Finals, but Friday\u2019s primetime showdown between the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":490392,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5117],"tags":[7645,196,5047,147,5278,5,2291,4,197],"class_list":["post-490391","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-dallas-stars","tag-cooper-flagg","tag-dallas","tag-dallas-mavericks","tag-dallas-stars","tag-dallasstars","tag-hockey","tag-mavericks","tag-nhl","tag-stars"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116185722766490977","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/490391","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=490391"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/490391\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/490392"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=490391"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=490391"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=490391"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}