Stephen Curry-Cooper Flagg Duel Impresses NBA Fans as Warriors Beat Mavs, AD Injured

The first Christmas Day showcase for Cooper Flagg was a success, even though the Dallas Mavericks weren't able to back up the rookie phenom in a 126-116 loss to Stephen Curry and the Golden State Warriors.

Flagg finished with 27 points on 13-of-21 shooting from the field. He also grabbed six rebounds and dished out five assists in a game-high 36 minutes.

Mavericks-Warriors Full Highlights

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Dallas played most of the game shorthanded when Anthony Davis left in the second quarter due to a groin injury. He was officially ruled out with what the team called right groin spasms.

This marks Flagg's second consecutive game and sixth game overall with at least 25 points. He joins LeBron James as the only teenagers in NBA history to score 25 points in a game on Christmas Day.

Even though the Mavs continue to struggle, Flagg is earning plenty of acclaim for how he is performing and how quickly his game has translated to the pro level.

Even Curry gave Flagg his flowers during his on-court interview with ABC after the game.

Curry didn't have his best game, but he was able to show the young phenom a thing or two. The two-time NBA MVP hit a clutch three with Flagg defending him late in the fourth quarter to put the Warriors up by 11. He also became the 22nd player in NBA history with at least 26,000 career points in the win.

Curry did lead Golden State in scoring with 23 points, but he was just 6-of-18 from the field and missed eight of his 10 three-point attempts. The Warriors as a team shot 14-of-50 from behind the arc.

Golden State's bench came up huge in the win, with four players scoring in double-figures. Al Horford, in his first game since Dec. 4 due to sciatica, put up a season-high 14 points on 4-of-6 three-point shooting in just 11 minutes.

It was an ugly game for both teams, but the Warriors were able to escape with their third consecutive win to move over the .500 mark for the first time since Dec. 7. They will begin a three-game Eastern Conference road trip starting Sunday before returning home to host the defending NBA champion Oklahoma City Thunder on Jan. 2.

The Mavericks emerged from this brief two-game stretch against the Warriors and Denver Nuggets with a 1-1 record, in addition to Flagg playing two of his best games of the season.

Even though the Davis injury casts a dark cloud over what the immediate future holds for Dallas, especially with the trade deadline on the horizon in February, at least Flagg is living up to all of the hype he had leading up to the draft.