Irving Scores 35, Flagg Adds 33 as Mavericks Beat Rockets 116-111 in NBA Cup Play

The Dallas Mavericks beat the Houston Rockets 116-111 on Friday, October 30, 2026, at American Airlines Center in Dallas, in NBA Cup group play. Kyrie Irving scored 35 points and Cooper Flagg scored 33, and Dallas won the fourth quarter 40-27 after trailing by eight points entering the period. The loss was the first of the season for Houston.

Irving and Flagg carried Dallas

Irving scored his 35 points on 12 of 19 shooting, with five three-pointers, four rebounds and nine assists. Flagg scored his 33 points on 13 of 19 shooting, with nine rebounds and six assists. Together they scored 68 of the Mavericks' 116 points, and both shot better than 60 percent from the field on the lines recorded in the final game record. Dallas needed both lines. Houston arrived unbeaten, and the Mavericks had to chase the game for three quarters before their two leading scorers took over the finish. The pairing produced points in the half court and at the rim, and it gave Dallas a clear answer each time Houston looked ready to close the game out.

The fourth quarter turned the game

Dallas trailed by eight points entering the fourth quarter. The Mavericks then outscored the Rockets 40-27 in the final period, the largest scoring quarter margin of the game on the final record, and Irving and Flagg combined for 27 of those 40 points. That means the two of them alone matched the entire Houston team point for point over the last 12 minutes, while the rest of the Dallas roster added the other 13. A five-point final margin came out of that one quarter. Houston had controlled the game long enough to take an eight-point lead into the fourth, and Dallas erased it and built the winning gap in a single period.

Houston's first loss

Kevin Durant led Houston with 26 points on 9 of 20 shooting. The Rockets fell to 5-1 with the loss, their first defeat of the season, and Dallas improved to 4-2. For Houston, the result ended a perfect start in a road game it led late. For Dallas, the win came in Cup group play, where a single result and the final margin both feed the group standings, and it came against the team that had beaten the Mavericks in the season opener.

A reversal from the opener

The meeting flipped the first one. Houston beat Dallas 128-110 in the season opener a week and a half earlier, when Durant and Jabari Smith Jr. each scored more than 30 points. This time the scoring load sat on the Dallas side, with Irving and Flagg both passing 30, and Durant's 26 stood as Houston's top line. The home team also finished the game this time. Dallas was the side chasing in the fourth quarter, and Dallas was the side that won it, 40-27, to close a 116-111 Cup win.