DALLAS — Cooper Flagg played over 47 minutes in the Dallas Mavericks' 133-127 double-overtime loss to the Los Angeles Clippers on Friday night. Although the Mavs were defeated, Flagg played well while logging no shortage of minutes. However, head coach Jason Kidd wants the team to do a better overall job of finding Flagg on the offensive end of the floor.
“He was good. He was aggressive there, got us the tied score,” Kidd said of Flagg. “We got the ball in his hands. We got to be better in getting the ball in his hands there late in the game. He struggled there, couple possessions, but once we did, he capitalized on that and scored.
“He played his heart out. He had some great looks. Defensively, I thought he was good.”
The Mavs fell to 3-10 overall with the loss. Additionally, they are now 0-2 in NBA Cup games. Still, Dallas competed on Friday night.
Naji Marshall and D'Angelo Russell led the Mavericks with 28 points each. They combined for 43 field goal attempts. Meanwhile, Flagg scored 16 points on just 13 field goal attempts. He took just three 3-point attempts as well. The Mavericks certainly could have looked to utilize him more offensively.
Without a true point guard on the floor, however, creating for others has been a challenge. The Mavs don't have many players who can consistently find the open teammate. Dallas desperately needs point guard help.
The challenge for Kidd will be finding ways to help Flagg receive more shot attempts without a true point guard on the floor. The point guard is often referred to as an extension of the head coach on the court. Without a true PG right now, Kidd will have a difficult time accomplishing the goal. Still, he will do everything he can to help Flagg moving forward.
