Cooper Flagg is doing everything he can to overcome the Dallas injury curse. Despite playing through an injured thumb, he continues to improve and finally led Dallas to victory. Sunday night’s overtime thriller against the Portland Trail Blazers ended with the Mavericks securing a hard-fought 138-133 win. The victory improved their record to 4-10, while Flagg achieved a career-high performance—proving that a little tape on his hand won’t slow him down.

Flagg and a returning PJ Washington each scored 21 points. The first overall draft pick added five rebounds and five assists with zero turnovers. At only 18, he’s the youngest NBA player in history to achieve that stat line. Against the Blazers, who are no pushovers this season, this performance is significant.

Things are finally looking up for Dallas—as long as Flagg doesn’t aggravate his injury. In the post-game press conference, he assured reporters he was following medical advice to the T.

“I’m not sure exactly how long,” he said, referring to how long he has to wear the tape on his hand. “I know that they said around four to six weeks just to be safe and let everything full heal up but you know I listen to the medical staff and you know see what happens.”

His timeline has been over a month so far. Flagg initially showed up for the game against the Bucks a week ago with his shooting hand wrapped due to a sprain of his right thumb. In that game, he had his best score, 26 points in the 114-116 loss.

As soon as pictures of Flagg’s injury at the shootaround surfaced (along with Anthony Davis seemingly ballooning up in size), fingers were pointed at Nico Harrison.

They blamed his medical staff for Dallas’ weight and injury problems and wanted him fired. And well, they got it. The positive vibes are finally taking hold of Cooper Flagg and his coach.

Cooper Flagg is making a huge adjustment for Dallas

Cooper Flagg is not only playing through his injury, he’s doing something against his grain. Though he’s a forward, Jason Kidd is playing him in the point guard position. He’s not shown the positionless versatility before, and it was an adjustment.

While calling it a huge responsibility, he said, “I do not know if I was ready for that right away. It does not mean I cannot go back to it or improve, but lately it has been better having someone else help with pressure.”

Most of Dallas did not approve of Kidd’s decision, and even his own son criticized him. Without the Fire Nico chants, questions about AD, and concerns about Dallas’ future, Kidd now appears less radical. Flagg proved himself as a playmaker throughout the game, hitting the game-tying free throws to force overtime. He added four more points in overtime, while the Blazers struggled to keep pace with Dallas’ offensive surge in the extra period.

The next day of Nico Harrison’s firing, Kidd appealed to the city to tone down the hostility now that the controversial GM is gone. Today, he’s flexing that Dallas finally has a leader on the court in Cooper.

“It’s incredible. His energy is at a high, his effort is at a high, with 13 seconds (left) he’s diving for the loose ball. He’s competing until the end, and so as an 18-year-old, he’s growing quickly into one of our leaders, and so for his example, the way he plays is at a high level. And so he’s giving everything he has.”

The fear still looms about Flagg aggravating his condition while his hand has over a month to recover, and Kidd pushing the envelope with him a little too much. How this momentum continues remains to be seen.