Dallas is 1-1 and ninth in the West, and the season's defining question arrived on the same night as its best win: can this roster stay afloat while Cooper Flagg is out? Our answer is that it can hold the floor, but it cannot yet move the ceiling.
The case for Dallas
Start with Friday. Dallas beat Indiana 121-105, never trailed, and led by 37. It ran off a 15-0 stretch in the second quarter and bent only when the game was long settled. Kyrie Irving scored 24 on 8-of-15 shooting, P.J. Washington had 20 and 13, and the bench added 40 points. Flagg was the engine even in short work: 14 points, six assists and three steals in 17 minutes, with Dallas outscoring Indiana by 34 while he played. Morez Johnson Jr. was plus-21 in the same minutes. That is a deeper rotation than last year's.
The case against
The Rockets game is the counterweight. Dallas lost 110-128 in Houston on Wednesday, and the profile that sent it to 26-56 last season has not been fixed by one win. Last season's net rating was minus-5.2, with the defense at 115.5. Flagg shot 29.5 on threes, and no one has replaced his creation. ESPN reported he landed on his shoulder after a hard foul and left the game. He is listed out with a return date of November 2, and Hoops Rumors reported he will be reevaluated next week. Dereck Lively II and Santi Aldama are both listed out until October 28. Christie, Risacher and Johnson all picked up tags on Saturday. San Antonio, 62-20 last season and 0-2 now, arrives with Tobias Harris out but De'Aaron Fox and Victor Wembanyama intact.
Our answer on the gap
Dallas holds the floor. The Pacers win showed that Irving, Washington, Marshall and Christie can score without Flagg's gravity, and the next five games, Spurs, Heat, Thunder, Rockets and Kings, are winnable only if the defense is better than last year's 19th-ranked unit. Our read: a 41-41 pace is the number to beat, not the one to accept. If Dallas goes 3-2 through that stretch, the Flagg injury will have cost it comfort and not a season. If it goes 1-4, the question stops being about a shoulder. It becomes about whether this roster, built on Irving's age-34 scoring and a thin front line, was ever deep enough.
Is Cooper Flagg playing against the Spurs?
No. Flagg is listed out with a left shoulder injury and a return date of November 2. Hoops Rumors reported he will be reevaluated next week.
Where do the Mavericks stand in the West?
Dallas is 1-1 and ninth in the West after beating the Pacers 121-105. At this early pace the Mavericks project to 41-41.
