Kings gameday live: Luka Doncic’s logo 3-pointer helps Mavericks hold off Sacramento
Sacramento Kings at Dallas Mavericks
When: 12:30 p.m.
Where: American Airlines Center
TV: NBC Sports California
Radio: Sports 1140 KHTK
Odds: Mavericks -4.5
Over/under: 218.5
Morning injury report
Kings: OUT — Louis King (G League); Neemias Queta (G League); Jahmi’us Ramsey (G League); Robert Woodard II (G League).
Mavericks:QUESTIONABLE — Sterling Brown (ankle). OUT — Kristaps Porzingis (back).
Matchup with the Mavs
The Kings will try to remain unbeaten on the road when they get their first look at Luka Doncic and the Dallas Mavericks in a matinee affair Sunday at American Airlines Arena.
The Kings (3-2) and Mavericks (3-2) come in with identical records, but Doncic has struggled and Dallas, under first-year coach Jason Kidd, has been blown out in both of its games against playoff-caliber opponents.
Doncic is averaging 22.4 points per game, down from 27.7 last season and 28.8 in 2019-20. He is shooting career lows of 41.7% from the field and 25.7% from 3-point range. Doncic was held to 16 points on 5-of-18 shooting in a 106-75 loss to the Denver Nuggets on Friday.
Mavericks center Kristaps Porzingis is listed as questionable against the Kings after missing the past two games due to lower back tightness. Porzingis has struggled, too, averaging career lows of 12.7 points and 6.0 rebounds while shooting career worsts of 30.2% from the field and 23.5% from beyond the arc.
As a team, the Mavericks are shooting 41.8% from the field, 32.9% from beyond the arc and 68.1% at the free-throw line. They are 27th in the NBA in 3-point shooting and 29th in scoring, averaging just 97.0 points per game.
The Kings are coming off back-to-back wins over the Phoenix Suns and New Orleans Pelicans. They are 3-0 on the road despite playing the third-toughest schedule in the NBA to date.
Kings coach Luke Walton said he is pleased with what he has seen from his team thus far.
“You go into the locker room and you hear them, not celebrating but talking about what they could have done differently,” Walton said. “That is how you get growth from a group. Being in every game against the type of teams we are playing against is exciting, but it’s also what we expect, and we know it’s hard. What we really like is that we won three of the five. We know we put in a lot of hard work coming into this season. It’s a small sample size and it’s early, but we like where our team is at.”
Injury update
The Mavericks have announced that Porzingis has been ruled out, but small forward Sterling Brown will be available.
Porzingis will miss his third consecutive game after sitting out against the San Antonio Spurs on Thursday and the Nuggets on Friday. Brown, who averaged 8.2 points and 4.4 rebounds with the Houston Rockets last season, will return after missing the past two games with a left ankle sprain.
Kleber injured
Mavericks power forward Maxi Kleber was having his way with the Kings early, but he left the game in the first quarter and may not be able to return.
Kleber had seven points on 3-of-3 shooting with five rebounds in seven minutes before going to the bench with 4:56 to play in the opening period. The team said Kleber suffered a back strain and his return is questionable.
Halftime report
Sacramento’s starters sleepwalked through the opening minutes and fell behind by 15 midway through the first quarter. The Kings came back to cut the deficit to one on a couple of occasions but trailed 53-47 at the half.
Davion Mitchell and Tristan Thompson came off the bench to provide some energy, fire and fight for Sacramento. The Kings were outrebounded 5-0 to start the game and 14-9 in the first quarter, but they held a 27-23 rebounding advantage at halftime after outrebounding the Mavericks 18-9 in the second period.
The Mavericks announced that Kleber will not return.
Kings lose
Poor shooting and untimely turnovers proved costly for the Kings, who suffered their first loss on the road, falling 105-99 to the Mavericks.
Doncic nearly posted a triple-double, finishing with 23 points, 10 assists and eight rebounds despite going 10 of 21 from the field and 1 of 7 from 3-point range.
Richaun Holmes led the Kings with 22 points and 13 rebounds, his fourth double-double of the season. Harrison Barnes added 15 points, 10 rebounds, five assists and three steals.
De’Aaron Fox continued to struggle with his shot. He was held to 14 points on 5-of-14 shooting from the field and 1-of-4 shooting from beyond the arc.
The Kings shot 39.6% from the field and made just 7 of 36 (.194) from 3-point range. Buddy Hield went 3 of 13 from long distance.
Sacramento still had a chance to win after Hield made two 3-pointers to cut the deficit to three with 4:53 remaining. The Kings nearly forced a turnover a moment later when Thompson poked the ball away from Doncic, but Doncic retrieved the loose ball and buried a 3-point bomb from the halfcourt logo with the shot clock winding down.
The Kings had an opportunity to trap Doncic in the backcourt with Thompson and Haliburton both converging, but Haliburton retreated to find his man.
“When we got the deflection, my initial thought was, yes, let’s stay up and double him, but there were still seven seconds on the shot clock and the guy’s a brilliant passer,” Walton said. “If you double him 60 feet from the basket, someone on Dallas is going to get an open layup or a 3-pointer, so I’ll take our odds with him shooting a 40-footer, and he made it.”
Walton credited his bench with helping the Kings get back in the game.
“We started tonight’s game soft,” Walton said. “We were soft to start the game, and Tristan, with the rest of that second unit, came in and at least got us back to where we’ve been playing, which is a physical, fighting, scrapping style of basketball.”
Note: Check back for updates with the latest news, notes, quotes and injury updates before, during and after today’s game between the Kings and Mavericks.
This story was originally published October 31, 2021 at 4:00 AM.
