Rookie Cooper Flagg Leaves Anthony Davis Speechless After Questioning HOFer’s Efforts

Dallas Mavericks star Anthony Davis showered praises on teammate and this year's number one pick, Cooper Flagg.

Rookie Cooper Flagg Leaves Anthony Davis Speechless After Questioning HOFer’s Efforts

Anthony Davis (Left) and Cooper Flagg (right) (Image credits - Firstsportz)

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There have been some positives signs for Cooper Flagg and his team since the return of star player, Anthony Davis. The Dallas Mavericks were struggling to even buy a win in the first 20 games of the campaign. But the future is definitely looking brighter for the Mavs than it was a couple of weeks ago.

The Mavs recorded an impressive, 122-109, win over the Houston Rockets at the American Airlines Center on Saturday night. Anthony Davis scored 29 points to go along with eight assists while Cooper Flagg recorded 19 points, five rebounds and three assists. The win propelled the Mavs to 9-16 record and to 12th in the Western Conference standings.

It was the Mavs’ fourth win in five games as the return of Davis has helped the squad’s performance and morale. The former Lakers star is averaging 19.6 points, 10.2 rebounds, 3.2 assists and 1.6 blocks this season. While this year’s number one pick, Flagg, is averaging 17.3 points and recently scored 35 points in a win against the Los Angeles Clippers and becoming the youngest player in league history to score 35 points.

Following the win over the Rockets, Davis spoke about the improvements Flagg has shown in his rookie season:

He’s playing free. We just want everybody to play free. Obviously, he’s going to draw a lot of attention because of who he is, and he has a target on his back. I got onto him tonight about rebounding. He gave up a couple of offensive rebounds, and he only had five rebounds, and he looked at me and said, ‘Well, you only got five too.’ There was no excuse that I could give him, but he wants to be held accountable; he wants to be great.

The Mavs have been through a lot already this season. Injuries to star players, lack of results and even off the court with the firing of former General Manager, Nico Harrison.

Should the Mavs tank with Anthony Davis back?

There were talks and suggestions that the Mavs should tank this season after a run of poor results and injuries to Davis and Kyrie Irving. Irving will not be returning anytime soon but has made significant progress since tearing his ACL in March.

Anthony Davis
Anthony Davis (Image credits – Larry Brown Sports)

Davis seems to have found his rhythm in the last few games after missing 14 games due to injury. The former number one pick lives in the paint and was aggressive against the Rockets. Flagg has also stepped up in recent weeks without his two star teammates. But now with the return of Davis, the Mavs will be hoping the two could flourish together.

It looks like four-time champion, Klay Thompson, has gotten out of his shooting slump as well, which has been a relief for Davis and Flagg. The former Golden State Warriors star has found a new role with the Mavs as he has been assigned as a bench player.

As the results have been promising lately and the squad finding some stability, it would be be better for the Mavs to see this through for some time. And if all goes well, the team will only get better once Irving returns.

Good run of results for the Dallas Mavericks

The Mavs nation deserve this. After the blockbuster Luka Doncic-Davis trade, everything has been falling apart for the franchise. Doncic playing at an MVP level for the Los Angeles Lakers and Davis’ constant injuries just added fuel to the fire.

After the game, head coach, Jason Kidd, spoke about the sudden turn of form for the Mavs in the press-conference.

One would be the ball going into the basket. I think Ryan (Nembhard) shoots the three and it touches every part of the rim and then it goes, I don’t think that was going in for us earlier in November so the ball is going in and the defensive schemes have chances to win games but also the spirit and energy of this group believes that they can win.

Promising times ahead as they are playing some of their best basketball and have finally gained some momentum this season.

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