Dallas beat Chicago 149-128, and the assist number stole the page.

This was not a subtle box score. Dallas scored 45 in the first quarter, reached 80 by halftime, and finished the regular season with a 149-128 win over Chicago on April 12, 2026.

Ryan Nembhard controlled the night

Nembhard's line is the one I would save first: 15 points, 9 rebounds, 23 assists, and a plus-23 in 38 minutes. The 23 assists were reported as an NBA rookie record, and the way the rest of the Dallas box score spreads out makes that number believable without needing much decoration.

Dallas' spacing made the score run away

Dallas shot 22-of-49 from three, which is 44.9 percent on high volume. John Poulakidas led the scoring with 28 points and made 8-of-16 from deep. Tyler Smith added 20 points with four threes, and even Klay Thompson's short 10-minute run gave Dallas four made threes.

Chicago still had useful individual lines

Rob Dillingham scored 25 points with five assists. Collin Sexton had 19. Leonard Miller added 17 and 7. The quiet stat line that stood out from the raw box score was Lachlan Olbrich: 10 points, 15 rebounds, and 10 assists. Chicago also scored 78 points in the paint, so this was not a total offensive collapse. It was a shooting-margin problem.

The Cooper Flagg footnote

Cooper Flagg scored 10 points in just under 10 minutes before leaving with an ankle issue, according to game coverage. Because this was the season finale for a non-playoff Dallas team, that became more of a future-health note than a same-night basketball adjustment.