Mavericks Host the Pacers Monday Night: Flagg's Double-Double Streak, a Second Night in a Row, and a 3.5-Point Edge at Home
Cooper Flagg put up 25 points and a career-high 12 assists in Sunday's rout of Brooklyn. Twenty-four hours later the Pacers are at the American Airlines Center, Dallas is favored by 3.5 — and Kyrie Irving's back-to-back status is the evening's open question.
The Mavericks do not get to savor Sunday for long. Cooper Flagg's 25 points and career-high 12 assists — his third consecutive double-double and fourth of the season, per the Associated Press account of the 130-93 rout of Brooklyn — are last night's news by the time the Indiana Pacers tip off at the American Airlines Center on Monday night, 7 p.m. Central on KFAA and MavsTV. Flagg's season line explains the attention: 24.0 points, 7.0 assists and 6.6 rebounds a game, with Kyrie Irving at 21.4 points and P.J. Washington adding 14.8 points and 7.5 rebounds; Daniel Gafford is shooting 71.4 percent from the floor, best in the NBA.
The market likes Dallas at home — narrowly. FanDuel makes the 6-4 Mavericks 3.5-point favorites over the 3-7 Pacers, with a total of 222.5 and numberFire's model giving Dallas a 58.2 percent win probability; the Mavericks are 7-3 against the spread this season. Indiana's counters are Pascal Siakam (21.4 points, 6.6 rebounds) and Andrew Nembhard (17.8 points, 7.0 assists), and a pace that has pushed three of the Pacers' ten games over the total — all three on the road.
The open question is the back-to-back itself. Dallas is playing its second game in two nights, and Monday's fantasy and injury reporting flagged exactly what this morning's preview could not settle: whether Irving plays the second night, with rookie Walter Clayton Jr. in line for more backcourt work if he does not; Sergio de Larrea (knee) remains out, as he has been since Oct. 26. The answer arrives with the evening injury report. The game file follows tonight's final within 45 minutes, on the desk's standing game-night cadence.
