Cooper Flagg, 19, scores 51, youngest NBA player to hit 50
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- Cooper Flagg finished with 51 points on 19-of-30 shooting in a 138-127 loss to Orlando, scoring 24 in the fourth quarter after assistant coach Frank Vogel re-inserted him following fan boos when he was pulled within five of the milestone.
- At 19 years, 103 days old, Flagg eclipsed Brandon Jennings (20 years, 52 days) as the youngest to hit 50 and became the ninth rookie in NBA history to do so — the others (Abdul-Jabbar, Barry, Baylor, Chamberlain, Hayes, Iverson, Monroe) are all Hall of Famers.
- Flagg and head coach Jason Kidd were both hit with technical fouls in the fourth quarter after Flagg argued a no-call on a shove by Orlando's Desmond Bane, who told Flagg postgame he intentionally tried to foul him; Naji Marshall was also ejected from the bench.
- Flagg joined Michael Jordan as the only NBA players with multiple 45-point games as rookies, and is on pace to join Larry Bird, Jordan and Luka Doncic as the only rookies since the 1976-77 merger to average 20+ points, 6+ rebounds and 4+ assists (he's at 20.8/6.6/4.5).
- An ESPN straw poll of likely voters had Charlotte's Kon Knueppel — Flagg's former Duke roommate — earning 80 of 100 first-place votes for Rookie of the Year, with Flagg getting the other 20.
Why it matters: Flagg, the No. 1 pick on a 24-53 Mavericks team, just put his name alongside Michael Jordan on a rookie scoring list — yet Knueppel, who has shattered the rookie three-point record (261 made at 43.1%), still leads the Rookie of the Year straw poll 80-20, meaning Flagg's case now rests almost entirely on closing that gap over the season's final stretch.
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