Maine basketball fans filled TD Garden in Boston to support local phenom Cooper Flagg during his first NBA game there with the Dallas Mavericks against the Boston Celtics. The Mavericks lost 100-120, but Flagg scored 16 points, including the game's first basket. Jayson Tatum also returned for the Celtics after nearly a year sidelined by injury, contributing 15 points.
On Friday night at TD Garden, a crowd of green and white Celtics jerseys mingled with blue Mavericks ones bearing the number 32, as fans from across Maine gathered to watch Cooper Flagg's Boston debut. The 19-year-old Newport native, playing for the Dallas Mavericks, opened the scoring with an early two-pointer in a 100-120 loss to the host Boston Celtics.
Flagg, who grew up as a Celtics fan, had just the night before reached a milestone in his rookie season by becoming the second-youngest player to score 1,000 NBA points. In a narrow 114-115 defeat to the Orlando Magic on Thursday, Flagg achieved this at 19 years and 74 days old, trailing only LeBron James's record of 19 years and 41 days set in 2004. He had missed time earlier due to an ankle injury but returned strongly.
Maine supporters expressed mixed loyalties. Grade schooler Ezra Bush from Maine, attending with his father, said Flagg inspires his own play: “Whenever I watch him, and then I step onto the court, I am like, ‘I am going to be like Cooper today.’” Father-son duo Mason and David Laflamme from Lewiston rooted for both: “Celtics fan all the way but definitely rooting for Cooper Flagg,” David said. “We're hoping, you know, Cooper's going to throw 40, and the Celtics will win, so that's always the goal.”
Flagg finished with 16 points, the second-highest for Dallas. The excitement extended to Celtics forward Jayson Tatum's season debut after a ruptured Achilles tendon kept him out since last May; he scored 15 points. Fan Diana Devlin from Eliot brought a large poster featuring both players: “It’s a big night, so I needed the poster.” “Always a Cooper Flagg fan,” she added, while prioritizing a Boston win.
Both teams play on the road Sunday: the Celtics against the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Mavericks versus the Toronto Raptors.