DHJ Quick Take: A Night for the Fans
- Breaking the Curse: The Dallas Mavericks snapped a 14-game home losing streak—the longest in the 25-year history of American Airlines Center. The victory over the Los Angeles Lakers was the first home win for the franchise since late January, rewarding a sellout crowd of 19,829.
- The MVP Moment: Cooper Flagg was met with thunderous MVP chants during his 45-point performance. Flagg acknowledged the fans’ resilience, noting that they have “showed up every single night” despite the team’s struggles and injury-depleted roster.
- Historic Context: In addition to the team milestone, Flagg joined Allen Iverson as the only rookies since the merger to record consecutive 40-point games. His two-game total of 96 points ties Wilt Chamberlain for the fifth-most by a rookie in NBA history over a two-game span.
DALLAS — They showed up anyway. Every single night, through 14 consecutive home losses, through a season defined by injuries and roster turnover and outcomes that rarely matched the effort, the fans at American Airlines Center kept coming back.
Sunday night, Cooper Flagg made sure they were rewarded.
Flagg scored 45 points, added 8 rebounds and 9 assists, and the Dallas Mavericks snapped the longest home losing streak in franchise history at American Airlines Center with a 134-128 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers in front of a sellout crowd of 19,829. When MVP chants broke out from the stands late in the game as Flagg stepped to the free-throw line, he heard them — and he did not take them for granted.
“It was pretty cool,” Flagg said. “We haven’t given the fans a ton to show up for and be excited for all year long. So it’s cool to see the fans showing up every single night still and supporting us in a big way.”
A Long Time Coming
The 14-game home skid was the longest at the 25-year-old American Airlines Center in franchise history and the longest for the organization in 32 years. It had stretched back to January 29, a weight that hung over every home game in the months that followed. The Mavericks lost close games. They lost blowouts. They lost games they had no business losing and games where the outcome was never really in doubt.
Through all of it, the fans kept filling the seats.
P.J. Washington did not miss the significance of that loyalty when it finally paid off Sunday night.
“That was great,” Washington said of snapping the streak. “I mean, just happy to get a win and just happy to see my guy Cooper doing his thing.”
Jason Kidd acknowledged it from the bench as well, noting postgame that Sunday’s performance reflected the right way to reward a fan base that had stayed patient through a difficult stretch.
“We snapped a streak here at home, understanding that we played the right way,” Kidd said. “There’s a lot of things we did well — not just Cooper tonight.”
Cooper Flagg Delivers on the Biggest Stage
If the fans were going to finally get their win, it was fitting that Flagg delivered it the way he did — historically, emphatically, and on national television against one of the league’s marquee franchises.
His 45-point night came two nights after a 51-point outburst against the Orlando Magic that made him the first NBA teenager to score 50 points in a single game. Together, the performances made him the second rookie since the NBA/ABA merger in 1976-77 to record consecutive 40-point games, joining Allen Iverson from the 1996-97 season.
The crowd felt every moment of it. From the opening possession — when Naji Marshall stripped LeBron James for a steal and Flagg knocked in a pull-up jumper 27 seconds in — to the turnaround fadeaway at 3:26 of the fourth quarter that pushed the lead to 10 and effectively ended the suspense, the building was alive in a way it had not been in months.
When the MVP chants came, they were spontaneous and genuine — a crowd that had endured a long, difficult season finding a moment to exhale and celebrate something real.
Flagg heard it all.
“It was pretty cool,” he said again, the understatement of someone still processing what the night meant. “These are the moments, these are the times.”
Washington, Marshall and the Supporting Cast
Flagg was the story, but the win was a collective effort that gave the sellout crowd multiple reasons to cheer. Washington, returning from injury, contributed 15 points and 3 three-pointers — including back-to-back triples in the third quarter that helped Dallas rebuild its lead after the Lakers had trimmed a 22-point deficit to two. Marshall finished with 13 points, 7 rebounds, and 7 assists in one of his most complete performances of the season. Brandon Williams added 13 points and 5 assists while running the offense alongside Flagg down critical stretches.
Washington credited the collective nature of the performance for making the night feel different from so many others this season.
“We passed the ball, we got good shots, we hit,” Washington said. “The ball was humming, and I just felt like everybody had a great game and we just played together.”
That sense of togetherness — organized, connected, and playing for each other — was precisely what the home crowd had been waiting to see.
What Cooper Flagg Will Remember
When asked after the game what he will take from this season, Flagg was honest about the difficulty of the year — the losses, the injuries, the weight of carrying a depleted roster night after night. But he was equally clear about what Sunday night meant within that context.
“Tonight for sure,” Flagg said when asked if the last two nights rank among his favorite moments this season. “Anytime you can have a good individual performance followed up with a team victory is much better for me, and that’s what I always look for.”
The fans who packed American Airlines Center on Sunday night — the same fans who had kept showing up through 14 consecutive home losses — finally got the team victory they had been waiting for.
Flagg made sure they knew he noticed.
Up Next
The Mavericks face the Los Angeles Clippers at Intuit Dome on Tuesday night.
More Dallas Mavericks Coverage Before Facing Los Angeles Clippers
- ‘A Dream Come True’: Cooper Flagg Makes NBA History Again As Dallas Mavericks End 14-Game Home Skid With 134-128 Win Over Los Angeles Lakers
- ‘That’s What Paul Silas Did For Me’: LeBron James Draws Parallel Between His Rookie Role And Cooper Flagg’s
- ‘He Will Be Unstoppable’: Cooper Flagg’s Three-Point Statement Gives Blueprint For NBA Dominance
- ‘They’re Very Similar’: Jason Kidd Breaks Down The LeBron James Parallels For Cooper Flagg
- ‘He’s In Rare Air’: Cooper Flagg Scores 51 Points In Historic Performance, But Dallas Mavericks Fall To Orlando Magic
- ‘He’s Given Me That Confidence’: Cooper Flagg Credits Jason Kidd For Playmaking Evolution
- ‘I’ve Learned A Lot’: Khris Middleton Is Helping Cooper Flagg Grow As A Professional Scorer
