Kyrie Irving scored 35 points, Cooper Flagg added 33 and the Dallas Mavericks rallied for a 116-111 victory over Houston, handing the Rockets their first loss of the season in an NBA Cup opener Friday night.
Irving scored 26 of his points in the second half, including a jumper that put Dallas ahead for good at 102-100 and set up a tense final two minutes. Houston’s loss left idle Memphis (5-0) as the only remaining unbeaten team in the league.
Kevin Durant scored 28 points, but the career 88% free throw shooter missed a pair with the Rockets trailing by two with 1:53 remaining. Amen Thompson did the same thing with 42 seconds to go after Dallas’ P.J. Washington threw the ball directly to him for a turnover.
After each pair of misses, Flagg converted a clutch bucket on the other end, including a three-point play. Irving was 12 of 19 from the field, including 5 of 8 from 3-point range, and Flagg was 13 of 19.
Daniel Gafford scored 18 points, including two clutch free throws with Dallas leading by one with 11 seconds remaining.
The Mavericks held on down the stretch by fouling on purpose twice with a three-point lead in the final 10 seconds, and Irving hitting the free throws each time on the next possession.
Irving finished 6 of 6 from the line, extending the NBA’s longest active streak of made free throws to 54 going back to before he was sidelined for 19 months by a torn ACL in his left knee.
Jabari Smith Jr. scored 10 points of his 22 points in the second quarter, when Houston outscored Dallas 31-17 to turn a seven-point deficit into a seven-point lead.
Fred VanVleet scored 16 points, and Thompson had 15 for Houston, which was just 24 of 33 on free throws.
Up next
Rockets: Host Thunder on Saturday night.
Mavericks: Host Kings on Monday night.
