Flagg flies in Mavericks’ slugfest win over Raptors
In a game where the Toronto Raptors got their first look at both their prized lottery selection and the Dallas Mavericks’ No. 1 pick, one was dynamite and the other non-existent.
Cooper Flagg looked every bit like the generational talent he was billed as, meanwhile Collin-Murray Boyles was uncharacteristically passive in his debut and struggled to get his usually magnetic mitts on the ball, finishing with zero points.
Alternatively Flagg ripped transition slams and step-back 3s on his way to an efficient 22 points, helping the Mavericks down the Raptors 139-129, dropping them to 1-2 on the season.
Scottie Barnes was marvelous, posting a 33-point, 11-rebound, six-assist line and scoring on good efficiency. He made his triples from the top of the floor, aggressively attacked the rim and made good reads to his teammates, all while rebounding and guarding well. Brandon Ingram waltzed off Iverson cuts and wide-pin downs to an easy 22.
Both teams attempted to set a breakneck pace out of the gate, with the Mavericks doing a better job, getting big dunks from PJ Washington and Flagg in transition. RJ Barrett was a battering ram in response, curling off Chicago action and wide pins and into traffic drawing consecutive and-1s.
The Raptors’ first five baskets were scored by each of their five starters. Barnes set up Poeltl for an open layup, Quickley ran out on the break, Barnes made an open middy, Ingram iso’d and stuck another with a hand in his face and Barrett drove and drew the extra free throw. Egalitarian basketball baby (kind of).
Sandro Mamukelsashvili ran delay action – handling the ball at the top of the floor – and Barrett ran off another Chicago action, this time getting an above-the-break 3 to go.
De’Angelo Russell was wide open on a cut to the rim but smoked the layup and Shead found Mamukelashvili running his lane in transition on the ensuing break for a lay. (Although Russell wound up being tough to contain as his repeated forays downhill hurt the Raptors in this game.) After the Georgian big man drew free throws driving a closeout and drained a triple off a flare screen. Then he drove another closeout and sunk a floater! A quick nine points in fewer than six first-quarter minutes for Mamu.
The Raptors really got rolling to end the quarter, with Barnes canning a 3 and throwing down a signature look-back dunk. Barnes and Mamukelashvili bossed the frontcourt in the first, leading all scorers.
For a stretch, the Raptors’ half court offence looked more fluid than the Mavericks. Yeah, the Raptors half court offence. Great ball movement setup a Quickley 3 at the top of the floor. Ingram’s steady diet of Iverson cuts and wide pin downs resulted in jumpers that would be tough for other players but were easy for him. But it got muddled up later as shots stopped falling, finishing at a dreadful 0.91 points per chance.
Ingram drove, spun and gathered before finding Mamu stampede cutting towards an open driving lane where he caught and hammered a huge dunk. The Raptors backup centre was finishing with immense authority. He had 13 points on seven shots, including 4-of-4 inside the arc, second to Barnes, at the half. But despite his strong play and Poeltl’s foul trouble and rough defence, Mamukelashvili played only nine minutes and took only one shot in the second half (an and-1 on a nice basket cut).
In transition, Barnes, Ochai Agbaji and Jamal Shead each hit triples in a short span. But De’Angelo Russell free throws, perfect Max Christie shooting and Flagg doing it all kept the Mavericks close at the break.
Ingram let it rip to open the third – pull-up middy, pull-up 3, tough floater.
But Toronto started missing shots and Dallas rocked the rim running the other way fuelling a plus-19 swing in the Mavericks favour. Barnes failed to finish a couple times with his back to the basket and Flagg made the Raptors pay both on the lobbing and slamming end of dunk after dunk.
Anthony Davis, who’d largely been overshadowed by Russell and Flagg to this point, went to town to start the fourth, scoring three straight Mavericks baskets – hook shot, tough drive and easy dunk – to widen his team’s lead. He ended up with a team-high 25 points and added 10 rebounds.
The Raptors offence showed meager signs of life and modest process with a well-executed Barrett-Barnes pick n’ roll, Quickley nashing and finding Barnes and good cuts, but they weren’t able to batten down the hatches on the defensive end and the deficit stayed at double digits. Down 14 with three minutes left the Raptors pulled their starters. Gradey Dick and Jamison Battle rained triples in a valiant fake-comeback effort that was all for naught.
For a second straight game the Raptors were overmatched physically and outrebounded while their high-pressure defence wasn’t able to make up the possession difference. Granted it was against a Mavericks starting lineup that ranks third in the NBA in average height, but it won’t get any easier against an equally large San Antonio Spurs squad on Monday (their starters rank fourth and Victor Wembanyama has 18 blocks in three games).
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