Last-Minute News, Rumors, Reports before Mavericks vs Heat

Friday night in Indianapolis, one minute left in the first half, Cooper Flagg picks off a pass and he's gone. Nobody in front of him. It's an easy dunk, right? And then Aaron Neesmith comes flying in from behind and sends him to the floor. It's a flagrant one foul. Najee Marshall goes in Neesmith's face and technicals are assessed both ways. And of course, the real concern was Cooper Flagg. Flagg walks to the locker room, holding his left shoulder, and he ends up not coming back. And as we all hold our breath and wait for the results on Saturday, we get that. The MRI says left shoulder sprain. He sits out the Spurs game and the team immediately comes out and says he'll be re-evaluated next week. And of course, Mavs fans, we started to do how long this is going to be of an absence for our star player. Then this morning comes around. He goes through shoot around. No setbacks. You're looking at questionable on the injury chart. Then they upgrade him to probable for tonight in Miami. So it seems as though Cooper Flagg is playing tonight. And I think this game tells us more about the Mavs team than any of the three we have seen already. Why, you ask? Well, because think about where he was when it happened. 17 minutes into the game, Flagg had 14 points, 5 rebounds, 6 assists, and 3 steals on 4 of 6 from the field. And in those 17 minutes, Dallas was plus 34 with him on the floor. Plus 34. In just 17 minutes. That's two games into the season, and guess what? He was already the best player on the floor in both of them. Opening night in Houston, we all saw. The Mavs lost by 18, but Flagg had 32 points on 10 of 17 from the field with 3 steals. So, of course, it's very obvious that when you see a 19-year-old grab his shoulder and walk off, you're not just worried about the one-game absence, you're worried about the plan of the future for the Mavericks. And Dallas has been here before with him. Last season, he missed 12 games. In November, it was a left ankle sprain against Denver in which he didn't come back from after halftime. In February, a left midfoot sprain in Phoenix cost him the Rising Stars game, and he only played in 70 of the 82 games. Now, obviously, none of those turned into anything long-term, but he's 19, he plays hard, he goes to the floor a lot, That's part of the deal with a player like this. And after the game, Dusty May was careful in what he said, saying, quote, An unfortunate play. Hopefully Cooper's fine, but obviously it's something we wish wouldn't have happened. Yeah, Aaron Nesmith, we're coming for you. And Najee Marshall was the guy who got Nesmith's face, saying, quote, Just standing up for my teammate. I hang with him every day, so it just made sense. The good news was that the one word that kept coming back to us was mild. It was a mild spring. No word of any minutes limit tonight should he play, and that's the best case Dallas could have asked for on Friday night, as in that he'll be playing just a couple days later. Because we already saw what this team looks like without him. Saturday was the home opener, a sellout crowd with no flag and no Kyrie. And while the Spurs did win that game 122-106, we learned a lot about this team. And of course, in that game, it wasn't just like one thing that was the problem. Dallas turned it over 21 times, and San Antonio scored 26 points off those turnovers. The Spurs also grabbed 15 offensive boards and scored 25 second-chance points, where Dallas had only 10. And of course, the fourth quarter is where you really missed him. Dallas actually led 87-86 late in the third. Then the Spurs won the fourth quarter 30-17 as the Mavs shot 7-22 and didn't take a single free throw in the quarter. And that's kind of shocking considering it was the fourth quarter. But of course, that's just what happens when nobody on the floor can get to the rim and draw contact, which is exactly what Cooper Flagg's job entails in a lot of ways. And of course, I want to be fair to the guys who play it. Sergio Delaria had 21 off the bench, and the bench outscored the starters 56-50. So there's like some real stuff to this team there. But, of course, Dusty May said himself that his team probably ran out of gas late, and the guy who's supposed to be the gas tank, well, guess what, he was in a suit on the bench. And, of course, let's remember what we're actually talking about in Cooper Flagg, as last year he averaged 21 points, 6.7 rebounds, 4.5 assists, and 1.2 steals per game. 21 points a game was the best of any rookie in the league, and, of course, he came home with Rookie of the Year with 56 first-place votes, beating out Konkanepa 412 to 386, and it was a lot closer than an honest day should have been, but at the end of the day, it was his Rookie of the Year award. Of course, last year on April 4th against Orlando, he dropped 51, which made him the youngest player in NBA history to score 50 in a game. And here's the part where people forget. He got better as the year went on. In his first 10 games, he only averaged 13.9 points last year. Of course, in his last 10, 25.6 was his average points per game. Not to mention he had 11 games of 30 or more and four of 40 or more as a teenager in his rookie season in the NBA. The problem was the team around him. Dallas went 26 and 56, so the whole point of the season is finding out what he looks like with a real team, which we feel like we have this season. And of course, with Kyrie off the injury report tonight, we got the version of Dallas built this whole summer around. Flag, Kyrie, together and healthy. Now, Kyrie also sat in that Spurs game to manage his left knee on the second night of a back-to-back, but on Friday in Indiana, he had 24 points in 25 minutes. He put that next to Flagg's 14 in 17, and that's two guys who built a 16-point road win with one of them leaving before the game even got to halftime. That's the duo. We see it again tonight for the First time since Friday, of course, and this time it's against Giannis Antetokounmpo, Bam Adebayo, and the struggling Miami Heat. Now, of course, here's what makes tonight really interesting. Dallas isn't walking into a buzzsaw, as I mentioned. The Heat are 0-3, which is kind of crazy when you think about the guys that are on the court with Bam Adebayo, Giannis Antetokounmpo, obviously the former Maverick Clay Thompson on that side as well. But yet this is the first 0-3 start in Eric Spoelstra's 19 years as the Heat's head coach. And you can't really even blame Giannis. He's had over 30 in each of the first two games against Minnesota and Detroit. and yet they still lost. So it's the problem that they found themselves in with the rest of the roster. Then on Saturday in Charlotte, Giannis had 14 points on four of 11 and fouled out after just 25 minutes against a Hornets team that was missing Coby White and Kobe White. And it wasn't just Giannis. Bam Adebayo needed 17 shots to get 20 points. The guy who freaking scored, what, 82 last year? Best player on the night was Davion Mitchell, former Baylor Bear, with 22 points, 10 assists. When your point guard is carrying you, when you have Giannis and Bam, something obviously is off in that team right now. And it almost got worse for Miami. Miami was down 21 going into the fourth in Charlotte, came all the way back to tie it, and then still lost on a Grayson Allen four-point play. Spolstra, after the game, did not hold back on his team. He said when they aren't active, we're choosing not to and we're paying the price for that. So you've got a Heat team that's desperate at home with a new roster that has not clicked yet. That's dangerous, but it's also exactly the team you want to catch early on. One thing to watch, though, Miami has been good protecting the paint, giving up 38.7 points in the paint in the game, third best in the league, and attacking the paint is exactly where Cooper Flagg is going to try and live. So tonight, 7.30 Eastern, 6.30, of course, in Dallas at the KCS Center on NBA TV, and I'm excited for it. The books don't love Dallas, as Miami is an 8.5 point favorite, and the Mavs are about plus 250 on the money line. But, of course, with Cooper returning, here's what I'm watching. Number one, it's the shoulder. First of all, does Flagg play? and if he does, does he play like himself? Does he attack the rim and take contact or does he settle for jumpers? If he's at the line a lot in the first half, guess what, that shoulder's feeling just fine. Number two, the ball. 21 turnovers against the Spurs. Flag, of course, had six assists in 17 minutes on Friday. Having him handle the ball against pressure changes a lot and you're not gonna have to worry about what was transpiring against the Spurs in theory. Then of course, number three, Flagg against Giannis. They'll see each other plenty tonight. A 19-year-old rookie of the year against a two-time MVP who has just fouled out and is struggling on his new team. Flagg's numbers this season, even with a game cut short, 46 points in 50 minutes. He plays 34 minutes a night like he did last year. Dallas has a real shot. And this matters for the week, too. Dallas comes home Wednesday to play OKC on ESPN, which, by the way, I think we're going to do a live stream for. Let us know how you feel in the comments section about that. But we're also 2-2 going into the third game. Would feel a lot better than 1-3. And also one more thing to watch for Flagg when he does get a breakaway, because we know he will, will he still go up strong? It's a moment that'll tell you, really, if the shoulder's fine or not. Personally, I think that Dallas not only covers the spread, they win this game outright. They're plus 8.5, but with Cooper Flagg back, he plays a full game. I think he goes for any over 25 points, then Kyrie helps alongside him. And I say that when we face off against OKC on Wednesday, we're 2-2. But of course, I want your take as well. Do the Mavs win this game in Miami tonight, or do the Heat finally get their first win? Let me know down in the comments section. Like I said, I think this game really does tell us what this team is for the rest of the season. healthy Flagg, healthy Kyrie, a desperate team on the road. If they win this one, the Spurs game, maybe it was just a night without their two best players, but they lose. Well, we could be talking about a different thing, especially with the way this game goes. And of course, whatever happens tonight, we'll still be covering the Mavs all season long. So make sure you hit that subscribe button for daily coverage of your favorite team. And of course, if you did miss that Spurs game, want to go back and check it out, we got a full breakdown on the channel. So go watch that next. And for now, guys, we'll say peace out.