From Flop to Phenomenon: The Remarkable Rise of This Unlikely Flagg

Isn’t it curious how the NBA tip-off this season has been about as headline-grabbing as a quiet Tuesday afternoon? Sure, you might scoff and call it throwing games or lukewarm effort — and maybe you’re not wrong. But hey, that doesn’t mean the hardwood can’t still put some coins in your pocket. This Wizards vs. Mavericks face-off tonight at 8:30 ET might just be the gem in the rough for bettors who prefer fewer, sharper plays. The Wizards, though struggling, show flickers of promise, while the Mavs are in a peculiar spot post that blockbuster trade that shook the league. For all the questions swirling around them — point guard woes, shaky defense, rookie jitters — there’s one player I’m zeroing in on to make some noise: Cooper Flagg. So, are you ready to see if we can turn this slow NBA start into some serious action? LEARN MORE.

Wizards vs. Mavericks, 8:30 ET

It really is a shame that the NBA hasn’t made any headlines in the first week of its return, isn’t it? Call me a fool, call me whatever you’d like, I know that guys are throwing games, I know that effort isn’t always there, but I still think the NBA can be a profitable endeavor to bet on. This year I’m going a bit differently – I’m playing fewer plays, ones I am more confident in. With that in mind, I think this matchup between the Wizards and the Mavericks is a great opportunity for us to line our pockets.

The Wizards are a bad team, but I will mention that they are at least potentially on the right path to improvement. They went down early to the Bucks in their season opener, but it was nice to see that they didn’t really ever give up. Their offense looked pretty good, dropping 120 points overall. Khris Middleton, in a return to Milwaukee, played well, and so did Kyshawn George. The team still needs to figure out its defense, and find a way to be most effective on offense, but this wasn’t a bad outing from the team. They had no answer for Giannis, and they let the Bucks shoot 41% from three, which will almost always lead to a loss. The team is going to be without Bilal Coulibaly, who is more talented than you probably realize. Alex Sarr, their center and pick from last year, needs to get more involved on offense, but he put up a nice double-double in the opener. I think that the matchups for Washington are just not that favorable in this game.

Most of the reason that the matchups won’t be good for Washington is because the Mavericks actually play defense. You probably remember that a massive trade took place last year – Luka Doncic for Anthony Davis and the right to select Cooper Flagg via the NBA. Allegedly, the reasoning behind that was so that the Mavs could upgrade on defense because Doncic isn’t good enough. Right… Anyway, it certinaly didn’t help in the first game as they allowed the Spurs to pour in 125 points against them. The Mavericks looked like a team that doesn’t have a true point guard. And, at the moment, they don’t. Flagg is expected to be a point guard for the team for now, and he certainly can do it. He played it a bit at Duke, but this is against nothing but professionals. He really struggled in his first game, not scoring in the first half at all. He clearly was nervous in his first outing. He missed a dunk then he missed another shot and pretty much stopped shooting for the first half. The good thing is that he definitely kept himself involved, hauling in 10 boards. He did get 10 points in the second half, but he didn’t get an assist in the game.

I look at this game from three angles: the first is that the Wizards probably are the right side here in terms of points. They are a bit better than you’d expect, and they are playing a team that is trying to figure things out. The other side is the total, which I think goes under. The Mavs have a better defense than they showed against the Spurs, and although their offense will improve against the Wizards, they still are a more half-court style offense. My official play here is going to be Cooper Flagg over 16.5 points. First off, this guy is too good, and he is going to get an opportunity to be involved. Even after missing two scores, he still took 13 total shots, tied for second most on the team. I’m expecting him to be more aggressive today and get to the line where he really makes the damage on the scoreboard. Back Flagg in this one.

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