{"id":247074,"date":"2025-10-28T20:25:06","date_gmt":"2025-10-28T20:25:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/247074\/"},"modified":"2025-10-28T20:25:06","modified_gmt":"2025-10-28T20:25:06","slug":"cooper-flagg-banged-up-after-first-back-to-back-in-nba","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/247074\/","title":{"rendered":"Cooper Flagg banged up after first back-to-back in NBA"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\"\"<\/a>Mavericks forward Cooper Flagg claps from the sideline with his left shoulder wrapped during a game against the Thunder on Monday in Dallas. (LM Otero\/Associated Press)<\/p>\n

DALLAS \u2014 Cooper Flagg\u2019s first experience with an NBA back-to-back was a painful one.<\/p>\n

The No. 1 draft pick by the Dallas Mavericks, a Newport native, barely got through the opening seconds of the second game Monday night before hurting his left shoulder. Flagg held the shoulder multiple times during the first half, used a heat wrap on it while on the bench during the second half and struggled through a 1-for-9 shooting night for two points, missing all three of his 3-pointers.<\/p>\n

Flagg played 31 minutes but was watching from the bench during most of the Mavericks\u2019 late rally, as they cut a 22-point, second-half deficit against the defending champion Oklahoma City Thunder to\u00a0one point in the final minute but lost 101-94.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust being a little flat, a little banged up. I\u2019ve got to find ways to play through it,\u201d Flagg said while seated at his locker with an ice pack on the shoulder. He said the shoulder will be scanned Tuesday and he expects to play in Dallas\u2019 next game, Wednesday at home against Indiana.<\/p>\n

The 6-foot-9 guard from Duke said he doesn\u2019t know how he got hurt, just that it was in the game\u2019s opening minute when he was trying to box out and felt something move.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust a little contact. Can\u2019t remember if a guy like, grabbed,\u201d Flagg said. \u201cIt was somebody\u2019s arm. I just like felt something in my shoulder, a little pain after.\u201d<\/p>\n

Flagg shot 1 for 6 in the first half, scoring on a layup midway through the second period.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe played through it,\u201d Mavericks coach Jason Kidd said. \u201cHe\u2019s a tough kid.\u201d<\/p>\n

Watching down the stretch was unusual for Flagg after he was on the floor in crunch time last season as the national player of the year in his one season with the Blue Devils.<\/p>\n

\u201cI mean, the way the game was going, we had a group there that was doing really well,\u201d Flagg said. \u201cI see where Coach was at with that. I was flat. I wasn\u2019t myself. I wasn\u2019t having an impact on the game at a high level. Wasn\u2019t doing the right stuff.\u201d<\/p>\n

Flagg is average 13 points four game into his pro career, with a high of 22 in Sunday night\u2019s home win over Toronto.<\/p>\n

Dallas\u2019 next back-to-back will be Nov. 7-8 at Memphis and Washington.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is different, but I\u2019ve got to figure it out,\u201d Flagg said. \u201cI\u2019m not too worried about it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Mavericks forward Cooper Flagg claps from the sideline with his left shoulder wrapped during a game against the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":247075,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[557],"tags":[64,63,590,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-247074","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nba","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-nba","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/247074","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=247074"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/247074\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/247075"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=247074"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=247074"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=247074"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}