The Dallas Mavericks did not need every late possession to become a Cooper Flagg highlight. They needed a few of them to stay alive long enough for him to make the decisive play.
That was the shape of Monday’s 113-109 victory over Miami, a game Dallas nearly let slip after Daniel Gafford fouled out. The Mavericks’ supporting cast created two crucial chances in the final minutes: Morez Johnson Jr. converted one, and a team offensive rebound preserved another after a Flagg miss.
Those possessions gave Dallas enough breathing room for its young closer to work without having to manufacture every point from scratch.
Gafford’s sixth foul came with 4:08 remaining and Dallas leading by seven. Miami’s Pelle Larsson made both free throws after the foul, leaving the Mavericks with a five-point advantage and Johnson in the middle. Gafford had supplied eight points, nine rebounds and three offensive boards in 25:36, so his exit removed a productive interior presence before Miami began its final push.
Johnson’s answer was wonderfully uncomplicated. At 2:46, P.J. Washington missed a 22-foot 3-pointer. Johnson secured the offensive rebound and tipped in the follow-up at 2:40, restoring Dallas’ five-point cushion. There was no elaborate rescue act attached to it. He won the extra opportunity, then finished it.
Miami responded immediately. Davion Mitchell’s driving floater at 2:29 cut the margin to three. Flagg then missed a driving layup at 2:11, but Dallas retained the ball on a team offensive rebound.
Andrew Wiggins was called for a loose-ball foul, and Dallas received another chance rather than watching the possession disappear. At 2:02, Flagg made a 24-foot 3-pointer, with Kyrie Irving credited for the assist, to restore a six-point lead.
Those plays explain why the finish belonged to more than one player. Flagg was outstanding in the larger sense, producing 29 points and 11 assists while adding five steals and three blocks. He scored 12 points in the fourth quarter.
But he also had five turnovers and was charged with offensive fouls at 3:59 and 3:39. Dallas could not reasonably expect every late possession to end with him making a difficult shot over a set defense. Johnson’s putback and the retained ball after the missed layup lowered the burden.
The rebounding numbers give the sequence some scale. Dallas finished with 13 offensive rebounds to Miami’s 10 and held a 51-42 edge overall. Washington claimed three offensive boards, Gafford three and Zaccharie Risacher two.
Those figures do not mean the Mavericks controlled the paint throughout the night; Miami scored 48 points inside and had plenty of second-chance opportunities. They do show that Dallas repeatedly found ways to extend possessions, including when its first option failed.
