Dallas @ Sacramento preview
Golden 1 Center
Last Meeting ( Mar 26, 2024 ) Dallas 132, Sacramento 96
Kyrie Irving and Luka Doncic combined for 56 points, Dante Exum broke a late tie with a 3-pointer and the Dallas Mavericks completed a two-game road sweep of the Sacramento Kings with a 107-103 victory Friday night.
Irving led the way with 30 points and Doncic completed a double-double with 26 points and a game-high 12 assists for the Mavericks (44-29), who had won 132-96 in the opener of the four-day double-header on Tuesday.
Domantas Sabonis recorded an NBA-leading 26th triple-double with 13 points, a game-high 12 rebounds and a team-high 10 assists for the Kings (42-31), who fell two games behind the Mavericks in the Western Conference playoff race after having started the two-game set tied.
Exum's decisive hoop came with 28.5 seconds remaining and followed four ties and five lead changes in the final 6:51. It came after a sequence in which neither team scored for more than two minutes after De'Aaron Fox got the Kings even at 103-all on a 3-pointer with 2:35 to go.
The Kings had two opportunities to close the gap or tie the game after Exum's basket, but Harrison Barnes misfired on a potential game-tying 3-pointer with 18.4 seconds remaining and, after Keegan Murray retrieved the offensive rebound, Barnes threw the ball away for a turnover.
Doncic made the second of two free throws with 4.1 seconds left, icing Dallas' sixth straight win.
Down 92-82 after a Keon Ellis 3-pointer with 8:59 remaining, the Mavericks produced the tight finish by scoring the next 12 points, including a pair of free throws by Irving that gave the visitors a two-point lead with 6:21 remaining.
Irving shot 11-for-16 en route to his game-high point total. He connected on three 3-pointers and Doncic had four in eight tries for the Mavericks, who played the perimeter-oriented Kings to a 45-45 standstill from beyond the 3-point arc.
Doncic missed what could have been his 20th triple-double of the season by one rebound.
Dereck Lively II chipped in with 12 points and nine rebounds off the bench for Dallas, which used the sweep to split the four-game season series with the Kings. All four games were won by the road team.
Fox paced the Kings with 23 points, while also finding time for six rebounds, five assists and three steals. Barnes added 20 points, Ellis 16 and Murray 12 for Sacramento, which has its first losing streak since February.
--Field Level Media