SACRAMENTO, Calif. — In a late March matchup with heavy playoff-seeding implications, the Dallas Mavericks handed the Sacramento Kings one of their worst losses of the season. Luka Dončić opened the evening with 26 first-half points en route to 28 overall, while Kyrie Irving closed, pouring in 18 of his 24 in the second half. No Kings players topped Dončić’s or Irving’s total for either half.
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The Mavericks cruised to a 132-96 road win in which they outscored Sacramento by 31 points in the final two quarters. A five-point halftime deficit for the Kings quickly snowballed into a 20-point hole at the start of the fourth quarter, and Sacramento couldn’t claw out of it. Many fans headed for the exits with about five minutes remaining as coach Mike Brown waved the proverbial white flag and subbed out his starters.
Dončić and Irving took turns picking the Kings apart, and now Sacramento finds itself in the Western Conference Play-In race — a less-than-desirable position in the standings considering Kevin Durant, LeBron James and Stephen Curry all currently reside there. The Kings (42-30) are tied with Durant and the Phoenix Suns for the seventh seed, while Dallas (43-29) jumped to the sixth seed.
“I think in the second half we played horrible,” De’Aaron Fox, who posted a team-high 18 points on 18 shots, said. “I think it was, probably, one of our worst halves of the season.”
The Mavericks began the second half on a 31-12 run. They got whatever they wanted on Sacramento’s defense, which seemed uncharacteristic for a Kings team allowing about 23 points per third quarter over its previous eight games.
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Irving, in particular, found his rhythm during that third frame. He scored or assisted on 21 of Dallas’ 38 third-quarter points.
Brown echoed his star player’s sentiment on Sacramento’s level of play.
“We got our behinds kicked,” Brown said as he opened his news conference. “Starting with me, all the way down. You’ve got to give Dallas credit. They actually played the way that we like to play. They just kept the game simple. Anytime we sent a second guy at the ball, or anytime they tried to drive the basketball and somebody was open, they just made the simple pass and whoever caught it stepped in and shot a wide-open shot.”
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The Kings ran two defenders at Dončić in the first half when he had the hot hand. He operated smoothly in each trap situation, dishing out five of his six assists while being pressured by multiple defenders. Then, in the second half, Irving embraced double teams to make life easier for his teammates. Six of his team-high eight assists came in the final 24 minutes.
“I thought Luka, our leader, set the tone early,” Mavericks coach Jason Kidd said. “He came out aggressive. And then our other leader in (Kyrie), he set the tone in the third with the pace. When those guys get going, somebody is going to be open.”
Tim Hardaway Jr. happened to be the player open. Hardaway was the third leading scorer in the game, finishing with 22 points on 8-of-14 shooting, going 4 for 6 from behind the arc. More than half of his points were scored when the Kings defense was drawn to Dončić and Irving.
“We have to be better at keeping the ball in front,” Fox said. “Luka, Kyrie, Tim, they’re going to make tough shots at some point. We know Luka wants to get to his stepback and we weren’t able to keep him away from that. He hit a few and now you’re kind of overreacting and now he’s getting downhill and he’s just making the game easy for everyone else.”
Fox and the Kings will have an opportunity to remedy issues like these on Friday when they take on Dallas for the fourth and final time during the regular season. Despite Tuesday’s thrashing, Sacramento still leads the season series 2-1, but the stakes are even higher for the upcoming matchup. In the event the Kings and Mavericks do end up with identical records, a win for Sacramento would give it the tiebreaker and ultimately the advantage in the standings.
“This is a great time for us to see if we have it within ourselves to go out and play the right way,” Brown said. “You don’t want to walk away from a game, if you can help it, with a bad taste in your mouth knowing that there are a lot of things out on the floor that we could’ve done better. Just by keeping the game simple, just by doing what we do.
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“There are a handful of things we emphasize a lot, but as of late it’s been about the sprays and it’s been about the contests. We didn’t do a good job in either area.”
By sprays, Brown means times when his players penetrate the paint and kick or “spray” the ball out for a 3-pointer. Usually, that type of 3 yields a better percentage than a 3 that could come from isolation or one-on-one play. The coaching staff tracks spray 3s, and by their count, Sacramento was 5 of 10 in the first half, then 1 of 4 in the second. As for “contests,” Brown means the way his team contests opposing teams’ 3-point shots.
Heading into the next matchup with the Mavericks, the sprays and contests will be even more of a focal point on the scouting report than they already were.
“To all of us in that locker room,” Brown continued. “It’s a great opportunity for us to bounce back, play the right way and see if we can get a win against these guys in the next three days.”
(Photo: Ezra Shaw / Getty Images)
