Kings win on Chimezie Metu’s buzzer beater; Isaiah Thomas makes Dallas Mavericks debut
Kings forward Chimezie Metu was mobbed by teammates after making a 3-pointer at the buzzer to beat the Dallas Mavericks, setting off a wild celebration Wednesday night at Golden 1 Center.
The Kings trailed by two with 3.8 seconds remaining when De’Aaron Fox took the inbound pass from Harrison Barnes at midcourt. Fox quickly blew by Mavericks guard Frank Ntilikina and drove straight to the basket. Mavericks center Dwight Powell came over to prevent Fox from getting to the rim, leaving Metu open in the corner in front of the Dallas bench.
Metu raised his hands to call for the ball and Fox found him, threading a perfect pass between Ntilikina and Powell. Metu caught it cleanly, elevated and fired, shooting the ball with purpose and confidence despite his recent struggles. Metu was just 3 of 21 from 3-point range over the previous six games, but this one was nothing but net.
Kings 95, Mavericks 94.
“Obviously, it’s his biggest moment in the NBA to make a game-winning shot,” interim Kings coach Alvin Gentry said. “There’s a lot of guys who go through a lot of NBA games that are never in a situation where they make a game-winning buzzer shot.
“I’m happy for him because he is a kid who works his butt off. He’s in here first thing in the morning. He’ll stay afterwards and put in the work. He’s harder on himself than we are on him. He wants to be a good player and he’s willing to put in the work to do it. You should see how happy our guys were for him in the locker room.”
Teammates swarmed to Metu, who pounded his chest as a crowd of 16,071 roared with approval.
“It was a great moment,” Metu said. “Probably since I’ve been in the league, one of the best moments I’ve had. I love my teammates and I know they feel the same way about me.”
Fox scored a team-high 16 points for the Kings (15-21), who won on the second night of a back-to-back after beating the Oklahoma City Thunder on Tuesday.
Davion Mitchell, who returned after missing six games due to NBA health and safety protocols, came off the bench to score 14 points on 6-of-9 shooting. Tyrese Haliburton had 12 points and 10 assists, his sixth double-double in seven games.
Jalen Brunson scored 25 points for the Mavericks (16-18), who will remain in Sacramento to play the Kings again on Friday in a New Year’s Eve affair. Kristaps Porzingis had 24 points, seven rebounds and three blocked shots. Former Kings guard Isaiah Thomas came off the Dallas bench to post six points and four assists in 13 minutes hours after signing a 10-day deal with the Mavericks on a hardship exemption.
Metu finished with 11 points and eight rebounds. He made 4 of 8 from the field and 3 of 5 from 3-point range, none bigger than the last.
“We were all proud of him,” Mitchell said. “He’s always in the gym. He’s always the first person in the gym. He’s in the gym right now, like, he’s on the practice court right now working out, so we knew that he was going to hit that shot. We’re glad he took that shot and we all had confidence in him.”
The Kings trailed by 10 at the end of the first quarter, went up by 12 in the second and then let a 13-point lead slip away in the third. The Mavericks were up 94-92 when the Kings got a critical defensive stop with 4.8 seconds remaining.
That set the stage for Fox and Metu. Fox said he considered trying to dunk on Powell, figuring he could at least draw a foul, but Metu was open and Fox trusted him to hit the shot.
“It was either try to finish over a 7-footer or hit Mezie in the corner,” Fox said. “He played well today, so that was an easy choice.”
Seeing Isaiah
The Mavericks signed Thomas earlier in the day after Boban Marjanovic and replacement player Brandon Knight entered NBA health and safety protocols. Marjanovic and Knight joined Luka Doncic, Trey Burke, Tim Hardaway Jr., Maxi Kleber and JaQuori McLaughlin in the league’s protocol system.
Thomas took a short flight from Seattle to Sacramento and joined the Mavericks around 3 p.m. He received a rousing ovation when he checked in for the first time with 4:46 to play in the first quarter.
Thomas, 32, started his career in Sacramento after the Kings selected him with the 60th pick in the 2011 NBA draft. The 5-foot-9 point guard spent three seasons with the Kings, averaging 15.3 points and 4.8 assists in 216 games.
Gentry said he’s rooting for Thomas, who hasn’t played more than 40 games in a season since averaging a career-high 28.9 points per game for the Boston Celtics in 2016-17.
“I’m a big fan and obviously everyone here is well aware of what he’s done,” Gentry said. “He was the 60th pick in the draft and I think he was (having) almost a Hall-of-Fame career, in my opinion, the way he was playing. Obviously, the injuries derailed him, but I think if you know IT and you know anything about him, there’s no way that you can’t pull for him to be able to get back in the league and be able to do some things.”
Fox’s leadership
Fox is the first to admit he isn’t the most vocal leader, but Gentry said Sacramento’s franchise player is still capable of leading.
“Everybody is not a real vocal leader,” Gentry said. “You don’t have to be a rah-rah guy, but I think our guys know they can depend on him and he’s going to make the right play, and he’s also a very bright basketball mind. … Everyone is not a rah-rah type guy, but that doesn’t mean you’re not a leader.”
This story was originally published December 30, 2021 at 4:00 AM.
