DALLAS (AP) — Cooper Flagg had 26 points and eight assists and P.J. Washington scored 18 points as the Dallas Mavericks beat the injury-depleted Oklahoma City Thunder 120-96 on Wednesday night.
The Mavericks (3-2) led by 12 in the first half and by 27 in the fourth quarter to move over .500 for the first time since Flagg joined the team last fall.
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Dallas Mavericks forward Daniel Gafford celebrates after a 3 point basket by guard Max Christie during the first half of an NBA basketball game against the Oklahoma City Thunder Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2026, in Dallas. (AP Photo/Jeffrey McWhorter)
Dallas Mavericks forward Daniel Gafford (21) and Oklahoma City Thunder center Isaiah Hartenstein (55) compete for the opening tip off during the first half of an NBA basketball game Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2026, in Dallas. (AP Photo/Jeffrey McWhorter)
Oklahoma City Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (2) drives past Dallas Mavericks forward Zaccharie Risacher during the first half of an NBA basketball game Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2026, in Dallas. (AP Photo/Jeffrey McWhorter)
Dallas Mavericks head coach Dusty May talks with guard Marcus Sasser during the first half of an NBA basketball game against the Oklahoma City Thunder Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2026, in Dallas. (AP Photo/Jeffrey McWhorter)
Oklahoma City Thunder center Isaiah Hartenstein (55) shoots over Dallas Mavericks forward Daniel Gafford (21) and forward Cooper Flagg during the first half of an NBA basketball game Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2026, in Dallas. (AP Photo/Jeffrey McWhorter)
Dallas' Kyrie Irving scored 15 points, 13 in the first half when he hit his first four shots, including three behind the arc. It was Irving's first home regular-season game since March 3, 2025, when he suffered a torn ACL in his left knee. Irving sat out Dallas’ home opener last week on the second half of a back-to-back.
Ajay Mitchell scored 29 points and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander had 21 for the Thunder (4-1).
Oklahoma City played its second game of the extended absences of Jalen Williams (broken leg, dislocated ankle) and Cason Wallace (torn labrum) and also the second without Chet Holmgren (patellar tendinitis in his right knee). Alex Caruso also sat out with patellar tendinitis that sidelined him during Monday’s home win over Phoenix.
It was the first home victory for first-year Mavericks coach Dusty May on his second try.
The Mavericks dominated from downtown. They sank a season-best 16 3-pointers on 45 attempts, with 11 made in the first half. The Thunder were a season-low 5 of 32 behind the arc for a season-worst 15.6%. Those were also lows for a Mavericks opponent this season.
Dallas’ accuracy from distance included center Daniel Gafford’s first 3 in eight NBA seasons on his 2,384th career shot. Gafford missed one 3-point try previously, on March 29, 2022 with Washington.
Both teams will face the Houston Rockets next, Dallas at home on Friday and Oklahoma City on the road on Saturday.
See AP’s full NBA coverage here
Dallas Mavericks forward Daniel Gafford celebrates after a 3 point basket by guard Max Christie during the first half of an NBA basketball game against the Oklahoma City Thunder Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2026, in Dallas. (AP Photo/Jeffrey McWhorter)
Dallas Mavericks forward Daniel Gafford (21) and Oklahoma City Thunder center Isaiah Hartenstein (55) compete for the opening tip off during the first half of an NBA basketball game Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2026, in Dallas. (AP Photo/Jeffrey McWhorter)
Oklahoma City Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (2) drives past Dallas Mavericks forward Zaccharie Risacher during the first half of an NBA basketball game Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2026, in Dallas. (AP Photo/Jeffrey McWhorter)
Dallas Mavericks head coach Dusty May talks with guard Marcus Sasser during the first half of an NBA basketball game against the Oklahoma City Thunder Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2026, in Dallas. (AP Photo/Jeffrey McWhorter)
Oklahoma City Thunder center Isaiah Hartenstein (55) shoots over Dallas Mavericks forward Daniel Gafford (21) and forward Cooper Flagg during the first half of an NBA basketball game Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2026, in Dallas. (AP Photo/Jeffrey McWhorter)
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — The small-ball Milwaukee Brewers playing in the smallest market in the majors are World Series champions for the first time in franchise history.
Hey, Milwaukee: grab a brat, raise a beer and prepare for that parade.
Young ace Jacob Misiorowski threw 5 2/3 scoreless innings of two-hit ball, rookie Cooper Pratt got two more hits and two RBIs, and the Brewers beat the Tampa Bay Rays 4-1 in Game 5 on Wednesday night to set off a long-awaited celebration among thousands of Brewers fans in attendance at Tropicana Field.
Misiorowski left the game because of a right calf cramp. He got a standing ovation from the Brew-Crew fans, who took over the section behind Milwaukee’s dugout for the last three games.
The 22-year-old Pratt set a Series rookie record with six straight hits before a sacrifice fly in the sixth inning. Jackson Chourio set a five-game Series record with 11 hits.
The World Series title comes in the 58th season for a franchise that began as the Seattle Pilots in 1969 and moved to Milwaukee the following year. The Brewers’ only previous trip to the World Series in 1982 ended in heartbreak when they blew a 3-1 lead in the sixth inning of Game 7 and lost 6-3 to the St. Louis Cardinals.
But Pat Murphy’s team displayed the resilience of the 67-year-old manager, who survived a heart attack in 2020 and was the NL Manager of the Year in his first two full seasons at the helm in 2024 and 2025.
With their flame-throwing, 24-year-old two-time All-Star on the mound, the Brewers rebounded from a heartbreaking, 4-3 extra-inning loss in Game 4 when they were three outs away from a sweep in the 12th before a stellar bullpen finally faltered.
Pitching on four days’ rest for only the fifth time in 34 starts this season, including the playoffs, the Miz had his longest outing since throwing 6 1/3 innings against the Cubs on Sept. 8. Leg cramps also forced him out of two outings earlier in the season.
Misiorowski, who broke the World Series velocity record with a 103.5 mph fastball on the first pitch of the Series last Friday, opened with 12 straight four-seamers between 100.9-103 mph. He topped at 103 twice among his 86 pitches, 58 strikes.
Misiorowski didn’t record a strikeout in the first three innings for the first time in his brief career and finished with two, matching his career low. He was fired up after Yandy Diaz missed a cutter to end the fifth. The Miz pumped his fist twice and punched the air walking off the mound.
The NL Cy Young Award favorite allowed one run over five innings to get his first postseason win as a starter in a 3-2 victory in the series opener. He was 2-0 with a 0.84 ERA in the Series.
JoJo Romero got two outs, Abner Uribe recorded two more and closer Trevor Megill pitched the last two innings, allowing an RBI double to Chandler Simpson with two outs in the ninth.
Megill retired Richie Palacios on a grounder to second to end it, threw his arms in the air and was mobbed by teammates near the mound while Brewers fans celebrated in the stands.
Pratt, who was 4 for 5 with a tiebreaking solo homer in the 12th inning in Game 4, gave the Brewers a 1-0 lead off Rays ace Drew Rasmussen in the second. Pratt singled for his sixth straight hit in the series in the fifth and scored on David Hamilton’s single off Kevin Kelly.
William Contreras hit an RBI double off Garrett Cleavinger in the sixth and Pratt added a sac fly to extend Milwaukee’s lead to 4-0.
Pitching on three days’ rest, Rasmussen went deeper than he did in Game 2, allowing one run and two hits in four innings. He had a 4-0 lead before he took the mound in Milwaukee on Saturday but couldn’t hold it, lasting only 3 2/3 innings as the Brewers rallied for a 5-4 victory.
Rasmussen retired the first four batters before Brice Turang lined a double the opposite way to left-center. After Sal Frelick was hit by a pitch, Pratt ripped an RBI single to center but was thrown out in a well-executed rundown between first and second. Rasmussen struck out Garrett Mitchell looking to strand a runner on third.
The Rays had runners on second and third with two outs in the fourth but Ben Williamson grounded out to third. Williamson, who was 1 for 15 in the postseason before his game-winning RBI single in the 12th inning in Game 4, started over the lefty-swinging Palacios.
Kelly replaced Rasmussen to start the fifth and allowed consecutive one-out singles to Pratt, Mitchell and Hamilton.
The teams combined to hit just four homers, three for Milwaukee. The Brewers scored a major league-low 32.1% of their runs on homers and Tampa Bay was second-lowest at 34.4%, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.
The Brewers led the majors with 103 wins in the regular season and went 11-2 in the postseason, including seven comeback wins and a sweep of the mighty Dodgers in the NLCS.
Milwaukee’s only other MLB championship was won in 1957 by the Braves, who moved to Atlanta for the 1966 season.
Murphy’s team finished what Harvey Kuenn’s star-studded crew couldn’t accomplish 44 years ago as the AL champions. Harvey’s Wallbangers had five Hall of Famers: Robin Yount, Paul Molitor, Ted Simmons, Don Sutton and Rollie Fingers. But Fingers missed the postseason with a forearm injury. They also had Hall of Famer Bob Uecker in the broadcast booth.
The Rays, an expansion team that debuted in 1998, dropped to 0-3 in the World Series after defeats in 2008 and 2020. The only other clubs to lose in their first three Series appearances were the Brooklyn Dodgers (0-7) and Detroit Tigers (0-4), according to the Elias Sports Bureau.
This might have been the last Major League Baseball game for an extended period.
The Brewers won the World Series at a time when owners are pushing for a salary cap from the players’ association because they maintain small-market teams can’t regularly succeed. A management lockout is likely to start Dec. 2 and could threaten the 2027 season.
This was the first Series since 1991 between teams in the bottom half of payrolls. The Brewers ranked 19th as of Aug. 31 and Rays were 25th.
The Rays were trying to become the first team to fall behind 3-0 in a World Series and force a sixth game. Of the 26 teams to fall behind 3-0, 21 were swept and Tampa Bay became the fifth to lose in Game 5.
See AP’s full MLB coverage here
Fans cheer during a watch party at American Family Field after the Milwaukee Brewers defeated the Tampa Bay Rays in Game 5 of baseball's World Series, Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2026, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Ross Harried)
Milwaukee Brewers catcher William Contreras celebrates with manager Pat Murphy after their win against the Tampa Bay Rays in baseball's World Series, Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2026, in St. Petersburg, Fla. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis)
The Milwaukee Brewers celebrate after winning baseball's World Series against the Tampa Bay Rays, Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2026, in St. Petersburg, Fla. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis)
The Milwaukee Brewers celebrate after winning baseball's World Series against the Tampa Bay Rays, Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2026, in St. Petersburg, Fla. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis)
Milwaukee Brewers catcher William Contreras holds the MVP trophy after winning baseball's World Series against the Tampa Bay Rays, Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2026, in St. Petersburg, Fla. (AP Photo/Morry Gash)
Fans attend a watch party at American Family Field to see the Milwaukee Brewers play the Tampa Bay Rays in Game 5 of baseball's World Series Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2026, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Ross Harried)
The Tampa Bay Rays watch during the ninth inning of Game 5 of baseball's World Series, Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2026, in St. Petersburg, Fla., between the Milwaukee Brewers and the Tampa Bay Rays. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis)
Milwaukee Brewers pitcher Trevor Megill celebrates after winning baseball's World Series, against the Tampa Bay Rays, Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2026, in St. Petersburg, Fla.(AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)
Milwaukee Brewers pitcher Jacob Misiorowski talks with head athletic trainer Brad Epstein and manager Kevin Cash after being pulled from the game during the sixth inning of Game 5 of baseball's World Series, Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2026, in St. Petersburg, Fla., between the Milwaukee Brewers and the Tampa Bay Rays. (AP Photo/Phelan M. Ebenhack)
Milwaukee Brewers catcher William Contreras celebrates his RBI double during the sixth inning of Game 5 of baseball's World Series, Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2026, in St. Petersburg, Fla., between the Milwaukee Brewers and the Tampa Bay Rays. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)
Milwaukee Brewers catcher William Contreras follows through on an RBI double off Tampa Bay Rays pitcher Garrett Cleavinger during the sixth inning of Game 5 of baseball's World Series, Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2026, in St. Petersburg, Fla., between the Milwaukee Brewers and the Tampa Bay Rays. (AP Photo/Morry Gash)
Milwaukee Brewers' William Contreras celebrates after scoring during the sixth inning of Game 5 of baseball's World Series, Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2026, in St. Petersburg, Fla., between the Milwaukee Brewers and the Tampa Bay Rays. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis)
Milwaukee Brewers' William Contreras celebrates after scoring during the sixth inning of Game 5 of baseball's World Series, Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2026, in St. Petersburg, Fla., between the Milwaukee Brewers and the Tampa Bay Rays. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis)
