Cooper Flagg had to get a jump on it in the fourth quarter and then the Indiana Pacers were unable to respond. The Dallas Mavericks closed out a 10-point deficit in the second half to defeat Indiana 125-122 on Monday, with the 19-year-old scoring 43 points on a season-high 7 made three-pointers while Kyrie Irving added 35 points with 7 three-pointers of his own. In any pacers vs mavericks breakdown, the second-half shift was decisive: Pascal Siakam racked up 26 of his 29 points in the first half to put the Pacers ahead, but his scoring slowed down in the second half as Dallas rallied for the 3-point victory to leave Indiana at 3-8.
| Team | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 | Q4 | Final |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Indiana Pacers | 31 | 35 | 27 | 29 | 122 |
| Dallas Mavericks | 26 | 30 | 34 | 35 | 125 |
Dallas is now 7-4 (5-2 on the road) for the first time since March 1, 2025, it has swept a three-game homestand and jumped over .500 for the first time in three games. With point guard Tyrese Haliburton (hamstring), missing, Indiana is down 3-8 and two straight games.
The first half was largely dominated by Pascal Siakam’s scoring as he went 8-of-9 for 26 points and gave Indiana a 66-56 lead by the break. Cooper Flagg had just 13 points to that point in the game and Dallas would equalize in the third quarter with a 34-27 score, but then would fall behind in the fourth 93-90.
The Q4 was the game-turning quarter. Irving and Flagg put up 26 of Dallas’s 35 points in the period, with Flagg getting the Mavericks first 13 points of the quarter in the third period and then scoring 16 of the final 18 in the fourth. Dallas opened the scoring with a 18-foot jump with 26 seconds to play, giving them a 123-119 lead. Indiana got one more shot: Aaron Nesmith sank two of his four 3-pointers to keep the Pacers in the game in the final minute, but Dallas was forced to the line and shut them off on the defensive end. P.J. Washington missed two free throws to give the Pacers an opportunity to pull it back, and Obi Toppin recovered the rebound as Indiana’s last shot came off on Andrew Nembhard’s inbound pass before it was tipped out by Caleb Martin.
In 38:52, Flagg had 43 points on 16-of-25 shooting (3-of-6 from three) with 10 rebounds, 6 assists and a steal, along with a defensive block in 38:52, which is a stat line that would typically lead the way for a defeat, not a close win that required a defensive stop to hold. The Double-Double was the fourth consecutive one for him, and it was the second night of a pair of games following a Dallas blowout of Brooklyn on the first night (130-93).
The box score is the rare thing that puts Flagg in a company of his own. He was only the second teenager in NBA history with at least 40 points, 10 rebounds and 5 assists in a game, and the first player in league history to have 40 points, 10 rebounds, 5 assists and 3 steals in a single game, per NBA stat trackers. The 43 points also put him on pace to reach his seventh career game with 35 points, the most in NBA history, and fifth game with 40 points as a teenager, another NBA record, held by LeBron James. On December 21st, Flagg will be 20 years old.
Irving was nearly as important to the result as Flagg, scoring 35 points on 11-of-18 shooting with a season-high 7 three-pointers in 38 minutes — his continued return to form this season after missing 19 months with a torn ACL. The pair of Irving and Flagg would go off in consecutive games for the first time this season following Sunday’s Nettivari.
Siakam’s first-half scoring run (26 on 8-of-9 shooting) was a terrific half in a half for Indiana, but the Pacers couldn’t score after the break with a defensive game that took a huge step back. Aaron Nesmith had a career-best 18 points on 5-of-14 shooting, including a pair of three-pointers in the final minute. Andrew Nembhard scored 12 points and picked up 12 assists, while Ivica Zubac dished out 16 points and got the go-aside 6-of-8 from the field of circles in his first two games against Dallas this season.
| Player | MIN | FG | 3PT | FT | REB | AST | STL | BLK | PTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pascal Siakam | 35:00 | 9-16 | 5-8 | 6-8 | 9 | 8 | 2 | 0 | 29 |
| Aaron Nesmith | 34:07 | 5-14 | 4-10 | 4-6 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 18 |
| Ivica Zubac | 27:33 | 5-7 | 0-0 | 6-8 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 16 |
| Andrew Nembhard | 34:21 | 5-10 | 1-2 | 1-1 | 3 | 12 | 0 | 1 | 12 |
| Kelly Oubre Jr. | 22:37 | 6-9 | 1-3 | 1-1 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 14 |
| Obi Toppin (bench) | 19:17 | 5-8 | 0-2 | 0-0 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 10 |
| Quenton Jackson (bench) | 24:47 | 4-6 | 2-3 | 0-0 | 5 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 10 |
| Jarace Walker (bench) | 9:35 | 2-7 | 2-5 | 1-2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 |
| Larry Nance Jr. (bench) | 14:14 | 1-3 | 0-2 | 2-2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 4 |
| Team Totals | 240:00 | 43-82 | 15-35 | 21-28 | 27 | 35 | 9 | 2 | 122 |
Inactive: Haliburton (hamstring), Brown, Furphy, Sheppard.
| Player | MIN | FG | 3PT | FT | REB | AST | STL | BLK | PTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cooper Flagg | 38:52 | 16-25 | 3-6 | 8-8 | 10 | 6 | 3 | 1 | 43 |
| Kyrie Irving | 38:20 | 11-18 | 7-10 | 6-7 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 35 |
| P.J. Washington | 35:20 | 4-12 | 2-8 | 3-6 | 9 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 13 |
| Santi Aldama (bench) | 19:07 | 4-9 | 1-5 | 1-1 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 10 |
| Daniel Gafford (bench) | 19:36 | 2-3 | 0-0 | 4-5 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 8 |
| Naji Marshall (bench) | 25:03 | 2-4 | 0-0 | 2-5 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 6 |
| Walter Clayton Jr. (bench) | 24:41 | 2-6 | 1-4 | 1-2 | 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 6 |
| Zaccharie Risacher (bench) | 15:12 | 2-4 | 0-1 | 0-0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| Caleb Martin | 18:59 | 0-2 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 3 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Team Totals | 240:00 | 43-83 | 14-34 | 25-34 | 43 | 26 | 9 | 4 | 125 |
Inactive: Biberović, de Larrea, Johnson Jr., Lively II.
Indiana will be looking to break their two-game losing streak against Washington on Wednesday, waiting on the return of Tyrese Haliburton after a hamstring injury. Dallas is headed to Minnesota on Thursday with a four-game winning streak now played in back-to-back fashion with a Flagg-Irving combination.
Dallas, the short home favorite, was strong on their night — and neither defense made much of an impact on the other in stretches — but the total (247 points) is the more helpful number for bettors keeping tabs on these two in the future. Dallas’s offense has dramatically changed in the second half with Flagg playing at his most aggressive style, and Indiana’s defense has now allowed 120+ points in its last two games, a game to watch for when Haliburton is in the lineup. You can view Sports OKBet’s live NBA odds to see how the market is making their lines on both teams’ next games.
It’s a 40-point performance by a 19-year-old, and you’d hope that to happen again in the next line that you see on Flagg or Dallas, but one 40-point game is not likely to be followed by the next 40-point game. Don’t play for money until you know the price and do not consider performances like this a foregone conclusion. If ever the need arises to limit how much one can deposit or to self-exclude, PAGCOR’s responsible gaming resources are available.
The matchup between a struggling Pacers team and a Mavericks squad that were riding momentum would prove to be one of the more unexpected individual efforts of the young season, but for Cooper Flagg’s near flawless second-half effort, which kept Dallas from getting in front, followed by one more defensive save to pull it together. It’s an early season game that will warrant re-watching, and Pascal Siakam’s first-half explosion for Indiana will be a footnote in the history next to Flagg’s historic line.
When the Big Four played at American Airlines Center on Nov. 9, 2026, Dallas fought back from a nose-up deficit of as many as 10 points to win, 125-122.
Flagg dished out three steals and scored a season-high 43 points on 10 boards and 6 assists. It was his seventh 35-point game as a teenager, tying LeBron James for the most by a teen, and the second time in NBA history that a teenager scored 40 points, grabbed 10 boards and dished out five assists in a game.
No. Haliburton was still not fit with a hamstring injury as the Pacers slipped to 3-8.
Washington will play Wednesday, Nov. 11, in Indiana and Dallas will play Thursday, Nov. 12, at Minnesota.
