Alvin Gentry says he’ll be ‘home drinking’ after Kings’ loss to depleted Dallas Mavericks
Interim coach Alvin Gentry revealed his plans for New Year’s Eve after the Kings suffered a 112-96 loss to a depleted Dallas Mavericks team Wednesday at Golden 1 Center.
“If anybody needs me, I’ll be home drinking,” Gentry quipped as he left his postgame news conference.
It was that kind of night in Kings Land, where these times are unprecedented due to the pandemic but entirely precedented in terms of the team’s performance after 15 consecutive losing seasons.
The Mavericks (17-18) were missing nine players, including Luka Doncic and Tim Hardaway Jr. Even Isaiah Thomas, the former Kings guard who made his Mavericks debut in Sacramento on Wednesday, was out after falling into NBA health and safety protocols Thursday, just 24 hours after signing a 10-day contract with Dallas.
The Kings (15-22) had a chance to win their third in a row and move into 10th place in the Western Conference — the final play-in spot — but it was not to be. The game was tied with nine minutes to play in the third quarter before the Kings suffered their typical third-quarter collapse, getting outscored 24-2 over a span of 7:08.
The only points the Kings scored during that stretch were a pair of free throws from Harrison Barnes. A basket by Sacramento native Marquese Chriss, a replacement player on his second 10-day contract with the Mavericks, put the Mavericks up 91-69 with 3:22 to play in the third.
“I’m open to suggestions if you have any ideas of what to do because we’ve tried it all in the third quarter,” Gentry said.
Kristaps Porzingis had 24 points, nine rebounds and six assists for the Mavericks. Jalen Brunson had 23 points and eight assists.
The Mavericks shot 51.9% from the field, made 9 of 22 (.409) from 3-point range and amassed a 47-33 rebounding advantage.
“We didn’t get any stops and we struggled to make some shots during that run,” Kings guard Tyrese Haliburton said. “… That’s a recipe for failure.”
Haliburton led the Kings with 17 points and 10 assists. Marvin Bagley III added 15 points. De’Aaron Fox scored 10 points in the first 7:06, but he went scoreless the rest of the game, finishing 3 of 14 from the field.
“We’ve just got to figure out how to start third quarters better,” Bagley said. “I think that’s where a lot of this starts. We play good in the first half. We do a lot of good things in the first half, keep the game close, and then we come out in the third and kind of let up in a sense. We can’t keep doing that if we want to win games. We’ve got to figure out how to start stronger in the second half.”
This story was originally published December 31, 2021 at 8:44 PM.
