After squandering another 2nd half lead, the Sacramento Kings lost to the Dallas Mavericks on Saturday 106-99.
The Kings went with the same starting five for the 2nd consecutive game and they seem to be gelling well. The shooting and ball movement of the offense looks much better than earlier in the season. However, defense is still a problem for this team and the Mavericks took advantage of this. They pulled out to a 17-13 lead by the first timeout. Sacramento fought backs towards the end of the first and used a 9-2 run to take the lead heading into the 2nd quarter.
The game started to go back and forth at this point, with both teams performing almost equally. Buddy Hield and Garrett Temple combined for 20 points off the bench to keep the Kings alive. Ultimately, Dallas went into halftime with a 56-54 lead.
Sacramento started the 3rd quarter with a 10-2 run, but the Mavericks managed to reduce the gap to four. With the Kings shooting at 63% compared to Dallas’ 51%, they entered the final quarter with a four point lead.
However, the Kings fell apart in the 4th, suddenly finding themselves losing by 12 points. The Kings failed to score a basket for the first 5:52 of the quarter while Dallas racked up 16 points. Even with De’Aaron Fox’s heroics, the Kings couldn’t find enough to catch Dallas, losing 106-99.
Harrison Barnes led Dallas in scoring with 18 points while Fox and Temple shared top scorer with 15 points. The Kings next game is Monday when they welcome Chicago.
