Cooper Flagg turned and made a jumper from 10 feet on Dallas’s first scoring play of the third quarter. It made the deficit eight. Nobody gets much credit for making the scoreboard say eight instead of 10, though that was the job the Mavericks had when they came back out against Indiana.
Dallas won 125-122 Monday at American Airlines Center. The lead that eventually stuck had a much less dramatic beginning. Flagg made several short jumpers while Indiana was still scoring, and the Mavericks had to keep up that pace long enough for an early fourth-quarter basket to give them a lead at all.
Flagg opened the half with a 10-foot turnaround jumper. He followed with a 15-foot pull-up and an eight-foot driving floater. After those baskets, Indiana still led 69-63. The sequence was valuable precisely because it was modest: three successful shots that reduced the distance without pretending the game had suddenly changed hands.
Indiana kept answering. Dallas scored 34 points in the third quarter, but the Pacers still led 93-90 when it ended. Kyrie Irving supplied the more dramatic punctuation, tying the game at 84 with a driving layup at 3:40, yet even that basket did not deliver a lead. The Mavericks had reached level ground briefly, then entered the fourth quarter still chasing.
That uneven progress says more about the victory than a conventional comeback summary does. Dallas did not wait for one large run to solve the night. Flagg finished with 43 points, 10 rebounds and six assists, while Irving scored 35 and made 7 of 10 3-point attempts. Their production was essential, but it arrived in stages rather than as one uninterrupted burst.
The fourth quarter brought the reward for that earlier persistence. Flagg and Irving scored Dallas’ first 13 points of the period, although Indiana scored within that stretch and continued to contest the game. Irving’s 3-pointer at 9:36 put Dallas ahead 98-97. Flagg then made two free throws, and Irving made three at 8:30 for a 103-99 lead.
The margin widened to 106-99 when Daniel Gafford made a basket and the accompanying free throw at 7:36. The sequence did not turn the game into a star-only production. It gave Dallas points from a third source at a moment when Indiana had already spent much of the night trying to account for Flagg and Irving.
Indiana’s response was substantial. Siakam finished with 29 points, nine rebounds and eight assists without a turnover, though only three of his points came after halftime. The Pacers also received 47 bench points, including 14 from Kelly Oubre Jr. and 10 each from Obi Toppin and Quenton Jackson.
