Cooper Flagg’s ankle appears to be just fine.
The Dallas Mavericks rookie returned to the court on Monday afternoon after missing a pair of games with a left ankle injury. Flagg picked up right where he left off, and helped lead the Mavericks to a blowout 114-97 win over the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden.
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Flagg went down with a left foot injury in last week’s win over the Brooklyn Nets, but then he left the team’s loss to the Denver Nuggets on Wednesday after awkwardly landing on his left foot midway through the second quarter.
Flagg stepped on someone’s foot, Kidd said after that contest, and he didn’t return in the second half.
Flagg missed two games as a result, both of which ended up being blowout wins over the Utah Jazz. He was considered questionable to play in Monday afternoon’s game with the Knicks — part of the NBA’s MLK Day slate — but was cleared after going through pregame warmups.
Flag entered halftime with 13 points, all but two of which came in the second quarter. He shot an impressive 6-of-8 from the field, and seemed perfectly fine with his ankle. Flagg attacked Karl-Anthony Towns in the lane and easily hit a fadeaway jumper over him for the first points of the game.
But it was Max Christie who sent the Mavericks into the locker room with a massive 28-point lead. Christie had 18 points at the break on six made 3-pointers, just more than half of what the rest of the Mavericks made from behind the arc in the first 24 minutes. The Knicks, on the other hand, went just 3-of-16 from the 3-point line in the first half.
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That lead proved to be too much for the Knicks to rally from. Dallas pushed its lead to 30 points briefly before hanging on to secure the 17-point win. It withstood a late 10-2 run in the fourth quarter, which briefly cut the deficit to just 15 points, to pull it off.
Karl-Anthony Towns led the Knicks with 22 points and 18 rebounds. Jalen Brunson added 20 points and seven assists, too. They were the only starters to hit double figures for New York, though Mitchell Robinson finished with 12 points and 15 rebounds off the bench. The loss was the fourth straight for the Knicks, who fell to 25-18 on the season. They’ve lost nine of their last 11 games, too.
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Christie finished with 26 points and six rebounds, and went 8-of-10 from behind the arc. That tied the Mavericks’ franchise record for most made 3-pointers at Madison Square Garden. Flagg ended up with 18 points, seven rebounds and three assists. Naji Marshall finished with 19 points and eight rebounds, too.
The Mavericks have now won four of their last five, and hold an 18-26 record. They’ll return home to Dallas to host both the Golden State Warriors and Los Angeles Lakers later this week.
