The Dallas Mavericks fell 101-94 to the Oklahoma City Thunder on Monday, with Cooper Flagg watching most of the fourth-quarter comeback from the bench. The rookie was dealing with left shoulder soreness after taking contact on the opening possession and sat out crunch time despite playing 31 minutes.

Dallas trailed by as many as 22 points before cutting the deficit to one with 54.8 seconds remaining, but Flagg had checked out with 8:14 left and returned only for two late defensive possessions.

Following the game, head coach Jason Kidd addressed the benching decision , per Tim MacMahon of ESPN.

“It wasn't his night tonight,” Kidd said. “We're a team, and so understand that the group that was out there put us in the position to win the game. He wasn't on the floor, but he was ch

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