What happened
Dallas opened the 2026-27 season with a 128-110 loss at Houston, and Kyrie Irving played 24 minutes in his first game back from the torn ACL he suffered in March 2025.
Coach Dusty May used several early lineup changes, with 10 Mavericks playing more than five minutes before halftime, while rookie Cooper Flagg finished with 32 points and four turnovers.
LINEUP CONTEXT
The rotation still looks fluid, so Irving’s workload and the bench mix remain key questions for Dallas going forward.
Automated brief based on the linked report. Lineup context is analysis; official starting-five labels come separately from our game data provider.
Original reporting: Player Grades: Recapping the Mavericks’ 128-110 opening night loss at the Rockets — Yahoo Sports ↗