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Mavericks Hand Thunder First Loss, 120-96, as Cooper Flagg Leads the Way

The unbeaten Thunder are unbeaten no more. Cooper Flagg had 26 points and 8 assists, Dallas made 16 threes and led by 27 as the Mavericks beat a short-handed Oklahoma City team 120-96.

A basketball dropping through the net in a packed arena
Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash

Final: Mavericks 120, Thunder 96

The Oklahoma City Thunder are no longer unbeaten. Cooper Flagg scored 26 points with 8 assists, and the Dallas Mavericks blew out a short-handed Thunder team on Wednesday night in Dallas.

Dallas led by as many as 27 in the fourth quarter. The Thunder fall to 4-1, and the Mavericks improve to 3-2.

Dallas couldn’t miss from three. OKC couldn’t make one.

The numbers tell the story:

Mavericks Thunder
Three-pointers 16 of 45 (season high) 5 of 32 (15.6%)

That was Oklahoma City’s lowest number of threes and worst three-point percentage of the season. Dallas made 11 threes in the first half alone and led by 12 at the break.

Top performers

Player Team Stats
Cooper Flagg Mavericks 26 points, 8 assists
P.J. Washington Mavericks 18 points
Kyrie Irving Mavericks 15 points (13 in the first half)
Ajay Mitchell Thunder 29 points
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander Thunder 21 points

The Thunder were missing four key players

Oklahoma City played without a big part of its rotation, according to the Associated Press:

  • Jalen Williams: broken leg and dislocated ankle
  • Cason Wallace: torn labrum
  • Chet Holmgren: patellar tendinitis in his right knee
  • Alex Caruso: patellar tendinitis

Ajay Mitchell did his best to fill the gap with a team-high 29, but without Williams and Holmgren, the Thunder had no answer for Dallas’ shooting.

Good nights all around for Dallas

  • Kyrie Irving played his first regular-season home game since tearing his ACL on March 3, 2025. He made three of his first four three-pointers.
  • Center Daniel Gafford made the first three-pointer of his eight-year NBA career.
  • Coach Dusty May got his first home win with the Mavericks.
  • Dallas is above .500 for the first time since Flagg joined the team last fall.

What’s next

Both teams play the Houston Rockets next:

  • Rockets at Mavericks: Friday
  • Thunder at Rockets: Saturday

See all of Wednesday’s scores in our NBA scores roundup, and tonight’s schedule in NBA games tonight.

Sources: AP via KDH News, ESPN, Mavs Moneyball.

chamith shirantha

Chamith Shirantha is the founder and editor of Downs & Dunks. He covers NFL and NBA schedules, rules and how-to-watch guides, and also runs the tech site ByteTidings.