Mavericks, Cooper Flagg just unlocked something special against the Raptors

DALLAS — The Dallas Mavericks defeated the Toronto Raptors on Sunday night with a final score of 139-129. The win marked Dallas’ first win of the 2025-26 NBA season. After two and a half games on offense (especially from a turnover standpoint), the Mavs found their rhythm in the third quarter against the Raptors. The Mavericks trailed 66-64 at halftime, but took a 103-91 lead into the fourth quarter after their third-quarter rally.

The Mavs also turned the ball over just once in the third quarter after 12 turnovers in the first half. Head coach Jason Kidd revealed his message to the players at halftime while talking to reporters after the victory.

“Just to be honest with them. No tricks here,” Kidd said. “We’ve got to take care of the ball. We were just making careless mistakes. One way you can do that is by talking and the other way is by slowing down. I thought we slowed down in the third quarter.”

“We were able to connect the dots.”

One of the electrifying moments of the third quarter came when Cooper Flagg threw down a massive dunk with about three minutes left in the third quarter. Dallas never looked back, eventually holding on for the win.

Video over Mavericks:

COOPER WESTLEY FLAGG pic.tvitter.com/pivnfzMiKc

— Dallas Mavericks (@dallasmavs) October 27, 2025

The dunk also set up a career high for Flagg as he scored his 19th point of the game on the ensuing free throw after the and-one. Flagg ended up scoring a total of 22 points.

The Mavs’ offensive struggles it was impossible to ignore the first two games, but it looks like they got their act together in the third quarter. It still wasn’t a perfect night — the first two quarters were mediocre, and the Mavs turned the ball over 20 times — but the improvement showed without a doubt.

“Yeah, he (Kidd) definitely did (solve the Mavs’ halftime problems),” Flagg he told reporters. “The same thing we’ve been dealing with, some silly turnovers we can’t make… We’ve got to be smarter with the ball. Honestly, when we took care of the ball and played with good patience, we got a lot of good looks.

“So the main thing he said was just ‘take care of it and we’ll get the shots we can get’.”

Mavericks guard D’Angelo Russell he gets his chance

D’Angelo Russell finally got some playing time to really make an impact, and he made the most of the opportunity. Russell’s plus-26 plus-minus was the Mavs’ highest overall mark. He added 24 points, six assists, five rebounds and three steals. The Mavs ended up with three players with 20 or more points, as Flagg scored a game-high 22 points, as mentioned Anthony Davis was 25

“I think we just turned the ball over (in the first half) and we’re down two points at halftime,” Russell he said for Breaking through the Mavs offense in the third quarter. “Knowing that if we don’t turn the ball over, we have a good opportunity to break this thing open. That was the result.”

The Mavericks will face a challenge on Monday. Dallas is scheduled to host the defending champion Oklahoma City Thunder in the second game of back-to-back games. Tip-off is scheduled for 8:30 PM EST.