As the Dallas Mavericks lost to the Oklahoma City Thunder on Monday night, 101-94, the attention was brought to rookie Cooper Flagg, who suffered a shoulder injury on the opening possession of the game. While Flagg has been special for the Mavericks to start the season, the injury could worry fans about his outlook, though the 18-year-old would provide insight into the shoulder issue.
Flagg would only score two points, shooting one of nine from the field, missing all three shots from deep, to go along with two rebounds and two steals. He would also sit for a majority of crunch time, per Jason Kidd's decision to prevent further injury. As Flagg said after the game, he feels “like it's just a little sore,” as he sustained the injury while boxing out a defender early in the contest, according to ESPN.
“We're going to probably get some scans or whatever, make sure everything's all clean, but I feel like it's just a little sore,” Flagg said. “Just want to keep an eye on it, ice it, do some rehab, and should be good to go.”
It was a tight game against the defending champions as Dallas came back from a deficit of 22 points to cut it down to within one point as Flagg was taken out with eight minutes left in the outing.
“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. He wasn't on the floor, but he was cheering for his teammates.”
Mavericks' Cooper Flagg admits “flat” performance vs. Thunder
With Flagg setting career-highs in the Mavericks' win over the Toronto Raptors on Sunday, the down performance on Monday could be attributed to shoulder soreness. Even still, Flagg admitted that he had a “flat” outing against the Thunder, understanding why he wasn't out there in crunch time.
“The way the game was going, we had a group out there that was doing really well and was on a run, so I see where Coach was at with that,” Flagg said. “And I mean, I was flat. I wasn't myself. I wasn't impacting the game at a high level, wasn't doing the right stuff. So obviously, that's an easy decision for Coach. He was just out there trying to win the game.”
At any rate, Flagg and Dallas look to bounce back against the Indiana Pacers on Wednesday.
