Sacramento Kings @ Dallas Mavericks
Saturday, January 27, 2024 at 9:00 PM ET
American Airlines Center, Dallas, TX | Game ID: 22300651
Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Final
DAL 25 24 26 40 115SAC 29 34 31 26 120
ESPN UpdateESPN Update
De'Aaron Fox scores 34 as Kings cool off Luka Doncic and beat Mavericks 120-115
DALLAS -- — De’Aaron Fox scored 34 points and Harrison Barnes had 20 to lead the Sacramento Kings to a 120-115 win over Dallas on Saturday night, cooling off the Mavericks' Luka Doncic who had 28 points the night after scoring a franchise-record 73.
“Fox was joking to me to just, ‘Don’t let (Doncic) put 70 on your head tonight,’ ” said Keegan Murray , who was the Kings’ primary defender on Doncic and scored 15 points. In the locker room afterward, Murray posed while wearing the team’s defensive player of the game crown.
The Kings had a 23-point lead that dwindled to 114-108 with two minutes to play before Fox scored on a layup and a pair of free throws. Maxi Kleber converted his own follow with seven seconds left to pull Dallas within three. Barnes hit two free throws with 4.4 seconds to go.
“When you have a lead like that, it’s natural that you just want to waste some time,” Fox said. “We’ve got to be able to finish a game better than that.”
Kevin Huerter scored 18 and Domantas Sabonis had 17 points and a game-high 11 rebounds for his 27th consecutive double-double as the Kings won their third straight following a season-worst four-game losing streak. They’ve won the first two games of a season-long seven-game road trip.
The Mavericks split their back-to-back after beating Atlanta 148-143 on Friday night when Doncic tied for the fourth most points in a game in NBA history behind only Wilt Chamberlain and Kobe Bryant.
Doncic also had 17 assists and 10 rebounds on Saturday for his ninth triple-double this season, third in the NBA behind Nikola Jokic’s 13 and Sabonis’ 12.
“With the depth that we have, he’s out there trying to do it by himself,” Mavericks coach Jason Kidd said. “That’s who he is. He loves to take on the world.”
Grant Williams scored a career-high 27 points, matching a career best with seven made 3’s, and Tim Hardaway Jr . had 19 for Dallas.
Doncic played a season-high 46:09 minutes after playing 44:43 on Friday night. He shot 9 of 26, hitting his first 3-pointer on nine attempts with 17 seconds to go. It was his lowest output since scoring 25 points in 32 minutes in a 16-point home loss to the Kings on Nov. 19.
“I’m tired. I can’t wait to go to sleep, honestly,” Doncic said. “I thought we fought well. I’m proud of how this team fought. Obviously, we couldn’t get the win, but we fought really well.”
Doncic was called for a technical foul early in the second quarter after being blocked twice within five seconds by Murray. At that point, his 4-of-12 shooting from the floor matched his total of missed field-goal attempts on Friday when taking 33 shots.
The Kings had a season-high 10 blocks, nine in the first half.
Dallas’ Kyrie Irving missed his third straight game after spraining his right thumb on Monday. He has missed 19 games this season. It was the 24th time in 46 games that Dallas has played without one or both of its stars.
Who is who
the initials in the Players column
DALAL A. Lawson
DL D. Lively II
DO Doncic
GW G. Williams
JG J. Green
JH J. Hardy
LD L. Dončić
MK M. Kleber
RH R. Holmes
SC S. Curry
TH T. Hardaway Jr.
SACDF D. Fox
DM D. Mitchell
DS D. Sabonis
HB H. Barnes
JM J. McGee
KE K. Edwards
KH K. Huerter
KM K. Murray
MM M. Monk
TL T. Lyles
DAL/SAC the team itself, not a player
-- the feed named nobody
What
What happened
the codes in the Events column
M2 / M3 made 2 / made 3
X2 / X3 missed 2 / missed 3
FT / X1 free throw made / missed
AST assist
OR / DR offensive / defensive rebound
STL steal
BLK block
TO turnover
FL foul
OF offensive foul — ends the possession
VIOL violation
JUMP jump ball
TM timeout
IR instant replay
HE heave at the buzzer, filed to the team
Where
Where a shot came from
the middle field of M3.LW.25
RM at the rim inside 4 ft
RC right corner
RW right wing
SO straight on
LW left wing
LC left corner
M3.LW.25 made 3, left wing, 25 ft
X2.RM.01 missed 2, at the rim, 1 ft
When
When it happened
the Offset column
one number per event, in the Events order:
whole seconds from the start of the
possession to that event
Events FL X3.RC.23 OR M2.RM.01
Offset 0 18 22 24
the foul opens the possession at 0s;
the putback ends it at 24s, which is
the possession's own Dur