独行侠送火箭赛季首败，NBA杯首战111-116落败

Oct 31, 2026 3:25 AMPublished Oct 31, 2026 3:25 AM

Updated Oct 31, 2026 3:45 AM

Dallas beat Houston 111-116, and gave the Rockets their first loss of the season in the first game on the NBA Cup.

Cooper Flagg and Kyrie Irving were too much for Houston to handle, as they combined for 68 points. Irving had his best game of the season, dropping 35 points on 12-for-19 shooting, including 5-of-8 from deep. He added 4 rebounds and 9 assists, while only committing 2 turnovers.

Flagg continues to have an amazing season and led the Mavericks to a crucial victory. Although he had a poor shooting night from three-point range (0-for-4), he was lethal inside the perimeter. He scored 33 points on 13-of-19 shooting, while adding 9 rebounds, 6 assists, 2 steals, and a block across 39 minutes.

Despite Flagg missing all of his three-point attempts, Dallas was much more effective with their three-point shooting than Houston, which was the primary reason for the result. Dallas shot 36% on 12-of-33 shooting, while Houston shot a measly 24% on 7-of-29 shooting.

Houston sorely missed both Alperen Sengun and Steven Adams, as they were both out due to injury. Having both centers unavailable gave Daniel Gafford the opportunity to dominate the paint.

Gafford made the best of his opportunity and put on a solid performance. He only missed one shot in the entire game, and scored 18 points, brought in 7 rebounds to go along with 2 blocks.

Sengun’s presence was severely detrimental on offense, causing Houston’s offense to lack creativity and finishing. Fred VanVleet was seemingly the only player on Houston creating chances, and had another clinical playmaking performance.

VanVleet had his third game of the season without committing a single turnover, while dishing out 6 assists. However, his shooting was subpar, going 6-of-17 from the floor and 3-of-10 from deep.

Although Houston was able to use their physicality to outrebound Dallas 48 to 41. Houston generated almost double the amount of second-chance effort with superior offensive rebounding, but the lack of finishing negated the 20-to-12 differential.

Another crucial factor for Houston’s defeat was the poor free-throw shooting in the fourth quarter. Kevin Durant missed back-to-back free throws. In the final minute of the game, Amen Thompson went to the line and missed his first free throw. He then attempted an intentional miss, but committed a brutal lane violation and gave the ball back to Dallas.

Jabari Smith Jr. hit a crucial three-pointer to give the Rockets a chance late in the game, but it was not enough to mount a comeback.

Houston will need to put on a much better performance in their next game if they want to avoid being eliminated in the NBA Cup. The Rockets will return to Houston to host the mighty Oklahoma City Thunder, on Halloween October 31st, at 7:30PM Central