The Dallas Mavericks (14-23) snapped their four-game losing streak, and their seven-game road skid on Tuesday, escaping Golden 1 Center with a 100-98 win over the Sacramento Kings (8-29). Brandon Williams
waited until there were just 30 seconds left to play before hitting his first 3-pointer of the game, and it turned out to be the game-winner as Sacramento missed three desperation 3-point attempts in the game’s final 10 seconds.
Cooper Flagg led the Mavericks with 20 points on 8-of-15 shooting, eight rebounds and six assists in the win. Anthony Davis added 19 points and 16 boards, but shot just 7-of-23 from the field for Dallas. Naji Marshall scored all 15 of his points in the second half.
DeMar DeRozan led all scorers with 21 points and five rebounds for Sacramento in the loss. Zach LaVine added 20 more as the Kings held the lead for most of the game before Dallas stormed back in the last 2:45 of the third quarter and finally grabbed the lead back late in the fourth.
Turnovers early on for the Mavericks made for a disjointed first quarter, leaving exasperated sickos everywhere to wonder aloud, “I stayed up for this?” Davis turned the ball over twice in the game’s first four minutes, but also made two of his first three shot attempts. Naji Marshall also turned it over twice in the first quarter. Klay Thompson’s 3-pointer from the right corner midway through the first tied the game at 13-13, but Russell Westbrook and Zach LaVine each hit 3-pointers on the Kings’ next two possessions to grab a 19-13 lead a minute later. Thompson would miss his next eight attempts from the field.
Sacramento came into the game with the fewest 3-point makes in the NBA (10.5 per game), but the Kings made four of their first seven against the Mavericks in the game’s first seven minutes. A track meet broke out in the last four minutes of the first, as Brandon Williams turned a steal along the perimeter into a run-out and a transition slam to bring Dallas back to within 21-20 with 3:43 left in the opener. The Kings held onto a 35-25 lead after one, behind nine early points from LaVine and a 9-0 run late in the period. The Mavericks turned it over six times and shot 9-of-20 (45%) from the field.
The Isolation Blues
The Mavericks’ offense devolved into isolation looks early in the game. This roster lacks the individual playmaking firepower to win individual matchups. Everything was off the dribble. Everything was forced. There was little to no “flow” to the Mavericks’ Flow offense, and the product of that slop is a seven-turnover first quarter.
Cooper Flagg tends to get lost in these kinds of situations. It doesn’t help that P.J. Washington’s ankle injury forced Flagg into another spot start at point guard, with both Davis and Daniel Gafford starting in the frontcourt. Flagg went 0-for-2 from the field in the first quarter before making his first bucket of the game early in the second, a baseline jumper from Ryan Nembhard. He scored on another assist from Nembhard the next time down, before Caleb Martin found Flagg open near the top of the key for his first triple of the contest with 9:43 left in the first half to bring the Mavs back to within 35-32 and force a Kings’ timeout.
The ball moves much better with a true point guard in the lineup. Imagine that. But in Mavericks’ coach Jason Kidd’s defense, Nembhard’s play over the last few weeks has not been quite as impactful as it was in his first few starts in November. Nembhard’s third assist to Flagg came with eight minutes to play in the second, as Flagg made a nice cut through the lane for an easy dunk that cut Sacramento’s lead to 37-34. To that point, Flagg accounted for all nine of the Mavericks’ second-quarter points after his scoreless first quarter.
But another 10-2 mini-run late in the second pushed the Sacramento lead to 12, up 58-46 at the break.
Finish the frame
The Mavericks gave away cheap little runs at the end of the first and second quarters, forcing their struggling offense into tight spots going into the second and third quarters. The Kings outscored the Mavs 14-5 in the final 3:43 of the first before getting the better of Dallas, 14-6 over the final 4:01 of the half to extend their lead to 12 at halftime.
Dallas shot an abysmal 9-of-27 (33.3%) from the floor in the second quarter. The Kings’ offense left the door open for the Mavericks in the frame, shooting just 9-of-22 (40.9%) on the other end, but Dallas wilted when the moment beckoned. No juice. No gumption. No will. No execution.
The Mavericks finally showed signs of life late in the third, though. After DeMar DeRozan hit his second 3-pointer of the game to give the Kings a 74-64 lead with 2:45 left in the third, Dallas put together a 12-2 run to tie the game at 76-76 on Williams’ 3-point play with 35 seconds left in the quarter. Thompson finally hit his second 3-ball of the game a possession earlier on a nice find from Williams in secondary transition.
Scary moment for Flagg
Flagg took the worst of a knee-to-knee collision with 7:50 left in the third quarter, while defending an awkward-looking drive by Precious Achiuwa. Achiuwa scored on the play to give Sacramento a 62-55 lead. Flagg was helped off the floor but stayed with the team on the sideline before heading for the stationary bike to keep the knee loose. He was hopping around a little trying to shake off the pain of the collision before making his way back to the bench.
Flagg had 12 points on 5-of-10 shooting, five rebounds and four assists in the game at that point. He returned with 5:07 left in the third quarter sporting a welt on the inside of his knee, but no worse for wear. Flagg picked off an errant pass from Dennis Schroeder a minute later to start a fast break that ended in two free throws for Davis and cut the Kings’ lead to 69-62. He had a hitch in his giddy-up after getting fouled while corraling a defensive rebound with 2:12 left in the third, but was still able to finish a tip-dunk on Martin’s missed layup in transition with less than two minutes to play in the third.
Cash in the clutch
Once again, the Mavs found themselves in a clutch-game situation down the stretch. Dallas came into Tuesday’s game 11-16 in clutch games this season. After falling down 84-79 on LaVine’s coast-to-coast fastbreak drive off a Gafford miss early in the fourth, the Mavs worked their way back to within one possession with five minutes left to play. Marshall stole the ball from LaVine on the right wing and drove for a transition score of his own to give the Mavericks an 88-87 lead with 4:02 to play, Dallas’ first lead since midway through the first quarter.
LaVine stripped Max Christie two possessions later and scored in transition to put Sacramento back in front, 91-88, with 3:36 left in the game, but Christie found Marshall open for a corner 3-pointer with less than two minutes to play to tie the game, 93-93. Williams’ pull-up jumper over Maxime Raynaud with 1:35 left gave Dallas a 95-93 advantage, but DeRozan rose up for a 3-pointer from the top of the key in response to swing things back in the Kings’ favor, 96-95, with 1:15 left. Flagg banked home a turnaround jumper in the game’s final minute, but DeRozan hit a dagger of a mid-range jumper coming off a screen with 42 ticks showing on the clock to give the Kings a 98-97 lead.
Out of a timeout, Flagg drove to his right, sucking in a second Sacramento defender. Flagg kicked it out to Williams for a huge 3-pointer from the right wing to pull the Mavs in front, 100-98, with just 33 seconds left. Both Scroeder and Westbrook missed 3-pointers on the Kings’ next possession, and Williams’ first 3-pointer of the game was good for a game-winner to halt Dallas’ four-game losing streak. He came into the game shooting just 18.8% from 3-point land on the season. Williams finished with 18 points off the bench for the Mavs on 7-of-13 from the field.
