Cooper Flagg Starting to Feel Like Himself Despite Mavericks' Blowout Loss to Cavs

The Dallas Mavericks got back to their losing ways on Friday night, getting blown out by the Cleveland Cavaliers, 138-105. After beating the Memphis Grizzlies on Thursday, they needed to re-establish themselves in the loss column, and they did just that.

Cooper Flagg had been struggling since returning from his midfoot sprain, with some people thinking he'd hit a rookie wall. He burst through that wall on Friday, going for 25 points, 5 assists, and 4 rebounds, going a perfect 8/8 from the free-throw line. It was very easily the best he's looked since returning from injury, even if it looks like he's missing some of his lift. Afterwards, he revealed that he'd been missing his "pop."

“I really feel I hadn’t come back with my pop, like my athleticism has kind of been lacking since I got hurt and came back,” Flagg said. “I finally felt like I was getting my pop back a little tonight.

"I’ve just got to keep getting back into the swing. It’s hard to play so much basketball, and then to miss three weeks like that was tough. It was different for me. I’m going to just keep getting my body back into the rhythm and finish out these last 15 games."

COOPER FLAGG TOOK FLIGHT FOR THIS ONE 😤 pic.twitter.com/4HajE2C4OK
— NBA on Prime (@NBAonPrime) March 14, 2026

A Look Ahead for the Dallas Mavericks

The Dallas Mavericks are 22-45 with 15 games remaining, as Flagg alluded to after the game. They have the 5th-hardest strength of schedule remaining, which includes an important tanking game against the New Orleans Pelicans. The Pelicans have no incentive to lose games, as they owe their first-round pick to the Atlanta Hawks.

However, the Mavs currently have the 7th-worst record in the NBA. They sit a half-game back of the Pelicans for the 6th-worst record, and they're two games behind the Utah Jazz, which could end up being an important battle. The Jazz have a top-8 protected pick that would go to the OKC Thunder, so they would love to hang onto that pick. Every game they win puts them at risk of losing that pick, because a few teams could jump them.

The Mavs do have a few games remaining against the top teams in the West, including the Denver Nuggets and Los Angeles Lakers, and another game against the Cleveland Cavaliers on Sunday. It's hard to see them winning more than 1 or 2 games with how hard the rest of the schedule is, but they keep fighting in every game.

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