Kings Look to Replicate Regular Season Success Against Mavericks

Given the circumstances of the Kings’ tumultuous, inconsistent season, the Mavericks are about as favorable a matchup as could be expected, since the Kings did defeat the Mavs all three times the teams faced each other in the regular season. This may sound like an easy matchup for Sacramento, but fans should consider some circumstances before reaching that conclusion.

A huge caveat is that neither Luka Dončić nor Anthony Davis played in any of the three games for Dallas, and Kyrie Irving only played one full game and a few minutes in a second game. 

Dončić missed the first contest due to injury, and was traded to the Los Angeles Lakers before the second and third games were played. Davis was still a member of the Lakers when the teams met the first time, and was inactive due to injury for both of the games since being traded to Dallas. Irving sat out of the first game, played the second, and suffered a season-ending Achilles tear nine minutes into the third game.

So we can safely say that the Kings have not faced any version of this year’s Dallas Mavericks at full strength or anything resembling it. The Kings were without starting center Domantas Sabonis in the third matchup, but have been comparatively healthier than the Mavericks. 

In two of the three wins, Sacramento had at least one quarter where they outscored Dallas by double digits. The Kings were able to get hot on the offensive end and string together enough stops on the defensive end to go on extended runs on multiple occasions.

In the first game at the end of December, the Kings bounced back from the Mavericks’ hot start and 23-37 first quarter disadvantage to win both the second and third quarters by ten points apiece. Sacramento held Dallas to just 12-for-39 (30.7%) shooting from the floor and 2-for-16 (12.5%) shooting from three-point range in those two quarters. 

The most recent matchup in early March featured a third quarter in which the Kings outscored the Mavs 34-16 to turn what was already a solid lead for Sacramento into an insurmountable deficit for Dallas. The Kings held the Mavericks to 26.3% shooting from the floor and 0% (0-for-5) from three in the quarter. Meanwhile, the Kings made five shots from beyond the arc and moved the ball extremely well, recording assists on eight of their thirteen made field goals. 

Another key to the game on Wednesday could be the battle for the boards. In two of the three contests this season, the Kings outrebounded the Mavericks by a substantial margin, and in the third the two teams were even. 

The Kings outrebounded the Mavericks by a 58-34 margin in the December game, led by Sabonis’s 16 rebounds on the night. In the February game, the Kings grabbed 50 rebounds while the Mavericks managed just 33. Sabonis once again led the way with 15 total rebounds.

In the last matchup, the teams both had 37 rebounds for the game. Not coincidentally, this is the game that Sabonis did not play. It will be interesting to see which team can do a better job rebounding the basketball with Sabonis back for Sacramento and Davis (presumably) healthy for Dallas.

With their season on the line, the Kings will likely need to do what they have been able to do in their previous games in order to pick up a victory against the Mavericks: control the boards and go on extended runs to take over the game in key spots.