SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Cooper Flagg scored the most points by an 18-year-old in NBA history, but he couldn't enjoy the accomplishment because it came in a loss.
Flagg had 42 points — topping the previous mark of 37 set by LeBron James on Dec. 13, 2003 — in a 140-133 loss to the Utah Jazz on Monday night.
“Obviously we didn’t win. So it's tough for me to want to be happy, or any of that, but obviously it’s a success,” said Flagg, who had a bag of ice on his ankle after rolling it at the end of regulation.
Flagg also became just the fifth rookie to record 40 points, five rebounds and five assists in the last 15 years as he finished with seven board and six assists.
“The more time he spends on the floor, the more he sees, the better he gets. He displayed it all tonight,” Dallas coach Jason Kidd said.
Flagg has been playing his best basketball the past few weeks as the No. 1 overall draft pick has averaged 25.7 points in the last seven games. He's also playing aggressive enough to get to the line and went 15 for 20 against Utah.
“It’s come a long way from the start of the season, so I’m proud of that fourth quarter,” Flagg said. “It’s a new game ... but I am getting more and more comfortable ... and just settling in, honestly, just being myself and letting the game come to me.”
He scored 12 points in the fourth quarter and made a savvy play to get the game into overtime when he missed a free throw on purpose with such a big carom that teammate Max Christie got the rebound with 3.9 seconds remaining and was fouled.
With Anthony Davis out and Dallas missing several other teammates to injuries, this game may be a harbinger of things to come as Flagg becomes a centerpiece of the Mavericks' offense.
"We were going to Coop. He was killing them the whole game, so they finally tried to double him." P.J. Washington said. “It doesn’t surprise me at all. I know exactly what he’s capable of. He’s a special player so there will be a lot more to come.”
Flagg also tied Mark Aguirre for the most points by a rookie in Mavs history as he begins to make his mark on the franchise. But he couldn't stop thinking of what he could have done to get the win despite the throbbing ankle. The Jazz made a late 11-0 run and then dominated in overtime as Flagg didn't score a basket in the extra period.
“I gotta be better. I had a couple of dumb turnovers, missed a couple easy ones, but I gotta be better, executing down the stretch like that,” Flagg said.
Setting records might be nice but Flagg feels it just means he's consistently improving and that's been his goal all season.
“I’m not really focused on a lot of that stuff (the records). I’m more just focused on being present, day to day, and trying to get better and and getting our team as many wins as we can,” Flagg said.
AP NBA: https://www.apnews.com/hub/NBA
Dallas Mavericks forward Cooper Flagg, center, drives to the basket guarded by Utah Jazz forward Taylor Hendricks, left, during the first half of an NBA basketball game, Monday, Dec. 15, 2025, in Salt Lake City. (AP Photo/Tyler Tate)
Dallas Mavericks forward Cooper Flagg (32) drives to the basket guarded by Utah Jazz forward Kyle Anderson (2) during the first half of an NBA basketball game, Monday, Dec. 15, 2025, in Salt Lake City. (AP Photo/Tyler Tate)
Dallas Mavericks forward Cooper Flagg, center, shoots over Utah Jazz guard Keyonte George, right, during the first half of an NBA basketball game, Monday, Dec. 15, 2025, in Salt Lake City. (AP Photo/Tyler Tate)
MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — A mass shooting in which 15 people were killed during a Hanukkah celebration at Sydney’s Bondi Beach was “a terrorist attack inspired by Islamic State,” Australia’s federal police commissioner Krissy Barrett said Tuesday.
The suspects were a father and son, aged 50 and 24, authorities have said. The older man, whom state officials named as Sajid Akram, was shot dead. His son was being treated at a hospital.
A news conference by political and law enforcement leaders on Tuesday was the first time officials confirmed their beliefs about the suspects' ideologies. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the remarks were based on evidence obtained, including “the presence of Islamic State flags in the vehicle that has been seized.”
There are 25 people still being treated in hospitals after Sunday’s massacre, 10 of them in critical condition. Three of them are patients in a children's hospital.
Also among them is Ahmed al Ahmed, who was captured on video tackling and disarming one assailant, before pointing the man’s weapon at him and then setting it on the ground.
Those killed ranged in age from 10 to 87 years old. They were attending a Hanukkah event at Australia's most famous beach Sunday when the gunshots rang out.
Albanese and the leaders of some of Australia's states have pledged to tighten the country's already strict gun laws in what would be the most sweeping reforms since a shooter killed 35 people in Port Arthur, Tasmania in 1996. Mass shootings in Australia have since been rare.
Officials divulged more information as public questions and anger grew on the third day following the attack about how the suspects were able to plan and enact it and whether Australian Jews had been sufficiently protected from rising antisemitism.
Albanese announced plans to further restrict access to guns, in part because it emerged the older suspect had amassed his cache of six weapons legally.
“The suspected murderers, callous in how they allegedly coordinated their attack, appeared to have no regard for the age or ableness of their victims,” said Barrett. “It appears the alleged killers were interested only in a quest for a death tally.”
The suspects traveled to the Philippines last month, said Mal Lanyon, the Police Commissioner for New South Wales state. Their reasons for the trip and where in the Philippines they went would be probed by investigators, Lanyon said.
He also confirmed that a vehicle removed from the scene, registered to the younger suspect, contained improvised explosive devices.
“I also confirm that it contained two homemade ISIS flags,” Lanyon said.
The Philippines Bureau of Immigration confirmed Tuesday that Sajid Akram traveled to the country from Nov. 1 to Nov. 28 along with Naveed Akram, 24, giving the city of Davao as their final destination. Australian authorities have not named the younger suspect.
Groups of Muslim separatist militants, including Abu Sayyaf in the southern Philippines, once expressed support for the Islamic State group and have hosted small numbers of foreign militant combatants from Asia, the Middle East and Europe in the past.
Decades of military offensives, however, have considerably weakened Abu Sayyaf and other such armed groups, and Philippine military and police officials say there has been no recent indication of any foreign militants in the country’s south.
Earlier, Albanese visited al Ahmed in hospital. Albanese said the 42-year-old Syrian-born fruit shop owner had further surgery scheduled on Wednesday for shotgun wounds to his left should and upper body.
“It was a great honor to met Ahmed al Ahmed. He is a true Australian hero,” Albanese told reporters after a 30-minute meeting with him and his parents.
“We are a brave country. Ahmed al Ahmed represents the best of our country. We will not allow this country to be divided. That is what the terrorists seek. We will unite. We will embrace each other, and we’ll get through this,” Albanese added.
The famous blue-shirted lifeguards of Bondi Beach attracted praise as more stories of their actions during the shooting emerged.
One duty lifeguard, identified by the organization’s Instagram account as Rory Davey, performed an ocean rescue during the shooting after people fled, fully clothed, into the sea.
Another lifeguard, Jackson Doolan, posted to his social media a photo taken as he sprinted, barefoot and clutching a first aid kit, from Tamarama beach a mile away towards Bondi as the massacre continued.
“These guys are community members and it’s not about the surf,” Anthony Caroll, one of the stars of a popular reality television show called “Bondi Rescue,” told Sky News on Tuesday. “They heard the gunshots and they left the beach and came right up the back here into the scene of the crime, into harm’s way while those bullets were being shot.”
Israel’s Ambassador to Australia Amir Maimon visited the scene of the carnage on Tuesday and was welcomed by Jewish leaders.
“I’m not sure that my vocabulary is rich enough to express how I feel. My heart is torn apart because the Jewish community, the Australians of Jewish faith, the Jewish community is also my community,” Maimon said.
Thousands have visited Bondi from all walks of life since the tragedy to pay their respects and lay flowers on a mounting pile at an impromptu memorial site.
One of the visitors on Tuesday was former Prime Minister John Howard, who was responsible the the 1996 overhaul of gun laws and an associated buy-back of newly outlawed weapons.
In the aftermath of the shooting, a record number of Australians signed up to donate blood. On Monday alone close to 50,000 appointments were booked, more than double the previous record, the national donation organization Lifeblood told The Associated Press.
Almost 1,300 people signed up to donate for the first time. Such was the enthusiasm at Lifeblood’s Bondi location that appointments to give blood were unavailable before Dec. 31, according to the organization’s website.
A total of 7,810 donations of blood, plasma and platelets were made across the country on Monday, spokesperson Cath Stone said. Australian news outlets reported queues of up to four hours at some Sydney donation sites.
Graham-McLay reported from Wellington, New Zealand.
People offer flowers and hugs at a floral memorial during a tribute for victims of Sunday's shooting at the Bondi Pavilion at Bondi Beach on Tuesday, Dec. 16, 2025, in Sydney, Australia. (AP Photo/Mark Baker)
British Consul General Louise Cantillon, arrives at a memorial with flowers and a wreath during a tribute for victims of Sunday's shooting at the Bondi Pavilion at Bondi Beach on Tuesday, Dec. 16, 2025, in Sydney, Australia. (AP Photo/Mark Baker)
In this photo released by the Prime Minister office, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese meets Ahmed al Ahmed at St George Hospital in Sydney, Tuesday, Dec. 16, 2025. (Australian Prime Minister Office via AP)
Former PM John Howard waves during a flower memorial for victims of Sunday's shooting at the Bondi Pavilion at Bondi Beach on Tuesday, Dec. 16, 2025, in Sydney, Australia. (AP Photo/Mark Baker)
Rabbi Yossi Friedman speaks to people gathering at a flower memorial by the Bondi Pavilion at Bondi Beach on Tuesday, Dec. 16, 2025, following Sunday's shooting in Sydney, Australia. (AP Photo/Mark Baker)
