Young Mavericks rookie Cooper Flagg took a beating on Monday night as Dallas crashed to a 101-94 defeat against Oklahoma City. The first-round draft pick injured his left shoulder in the opening minutes and spent most of crunch time nursing it from the bench, scoring just two points on 1-of-9 shooting.
Flagg's poor performance was attributed to being "flat" in the second game of his back-to-back, a condition he acknowledged he'd never experienced before. The 22-point scorer in the previous night's win over Toronto looked off in crunch time, failing to make an impact despite cheering on his teammates from the sidelines.
Coach Jason Kidd defended his decision to bench Flagg during critical moments, citing the need for the team to perform well and take advantage of the momentum built by a strong supporting cast. "It wasn't his night tonight," Kidd said. "We're a team, and so understand that the group that was out there put us in the position to win the game."
Flagg, however, showed no issue with the benching, accepting that he'd let his teammates down. He vowed to get treatment for the shoulder injury, stating that scans would be conducted to ensure everything is clear before resuming play against Indiana on Wednesday. With one of the most hyped rookies in the league, Flagg's durability and ability to perform under pressure will be crucial to the Mavericks' success.
Flagg's poor performance was attributed to being "flat" in the second game of his back-to-back, a condition he acknowledged he'd never experienced before. The 22-point scorer in the previous night's win over Toronto looked off in crunch time, failing to make an impact despite cheering on his teammates from the sidelines.
Coach Jason Kidd defended his decision to bench Flagg during critical moments, citing the need for the team to perform well and take advantage of the momentum built by a strong supporting cast. "It wasn't his night tonight," Kidd said. "We're a team, and so understand that the group that was out there put us in the position to win the game."
Flagg, however, showed no issue with the benching, accepting that he'd let his teammates down. He vowed to get treatment for the shoulder injury, stating that scans would be conducted to ensure everything is clear before resuming play against Indiana on Wednesday. With one of the most hyped rookies in the league, Flagg's durability and ability to perform under pressure will be crucial to the Mavericks' success.
at least he's taking it in stride tho i mean who doesn't love a good benching storyline, but seriously coach kidd needs to be more transparent about when the youngins are gonna get benched or we'll all be wondering why flagg wasn't ready for primetime 
btw 101-94 is still pretty much an embarrassment for the mavericks 
I feel bad for Cooper Flagg, that guy was getting absolutely roasted out there on Monday 
! I mean, a rookie with so much hype like him should be putting up some sick numbers, not scoring just two points and looking flat as a pancake 
️. And yeah, the benching from Coach Kidd makes sense, but still gotta feel bad for Flagg, he's gonna wanna prove himself ASAP 
.
Flagg needs to be the champion of getting back up from this setback and crushing it next game 
! Can't wait to see what he does against Indy on Wednesday 
his shoulder injury looked pretty gnarly... coach kidd shoulda let him finish the game at least... but on the other hand, i get where coach kidd is coming from 
flagg's gotta bounce back from this tho... can't have a rookie having a meltdown like that 
The NBA has to find ways to protect these young players from taking too much of a hit so soon in the season 
. I'm keeping an eye on Flagg's progress, hope he gets treatment ASAP and can get back out there sooner than expected 
but like, can't he try to motivate flagg a bit? 
anyways, gotta keep an eye on that shoulder injury, fingers crossed it's not too serious 
. But hey, gotta give credit where credit is due, Jason Kidd's got his team's back 
. We'll see how Flagg recovers from that shoulder injury, hopefully he comes out stronger than a Dallas Cowboys' offense without Tony Romo 
but you gotta respect jason kidds call 
coach is right we can't rely on one guy to carry us through every game 
still, gotta get that shoulder checked out ASAP 
hope coop recovers fast and gets back to his deadly form 
. I mean, being "flat" is a pretty vague term and coach Jason Kidd could've easily kept him in for more minutes if he wanted to. And what's with this whole "team over individual" vibe? Like, Flagg's not some rookie who can just step in and perform every night without any issues. He got injured, plain and simple.