New lineup gives Sacramento Kings a spark in win over Dallas Mavericks
Sacramento Kings coach Doug Christie had to come up with another new lineup in Saturday’s game against the Dallas Mavericks.
This one propelled the team to a win.
Russell Westbrook put up 21 points, five rebounds and nine assists to lead the Kings to a 113-107 victory over the Mavericks in a matinee affair before a crowd of 17,832 at Golden 1 Center in Sacramento.
Westbrook achieved another career milestone in the win, passing Los Angeles Lakers legend Magic Johnson for seventh on the NBA’s all-time leaderboard for career assists.
Keon Ellis also scored 21 points for the Kings (8-23), who had lost six of seven and 10 of their last 12. Rookie center Maxime Raynaud finished with 19 points and six rebounds.
Ellis, who got his third start of the season, said defense was the key to victory for Sacramento.
“Just the effort on the defensive end, helping for one another,” Ellis said. “I always go back to that energy again because there’s been times when teams are going on runs, and we’ve let go of the rope a little bit, so tonight I think we did a good job of not doing that.”
Rookie forward Cooper Flagg had 23 points, six rebounds and five assists for the Mavericks (12-21), who were missing 10-time All-Star center Anthony Davis due to right groin soreness.
P.J. Washington scored 17 points for Dallas. Klay Thompson came off the bench to score 14.
Halftime report
Christie deployed his 18th starting lineup of the season with Zach LaVine (ankle), Keegan Murray (calf) and Domantas Sabonis (knee) out due to injuries. Christie chose to start Westbrook and Ellis in the backcourt with DeMar DeRozan, Precious Achiuwa and Raynaud in the frontcourt.
Ellis made the most of his opportunity after being inserted into the starting lineup, scoring 11 points over the first 5:29 while going 4 of 4 from the field with three 3-pointers. The hot hand of Ellis seemed to light a fire in the Kings, who opened up a 17-point lead after going 13 of 21 from the field and 4 of 8 from 3-point range to start the game.
Sacramento led 31-23 at the end of the opening period. Dallas came back to cut the deficit to six early in the second quarter, but it wasn’t long before the Kings reestablished a double-digit lead.
The Kings led by as many as 21 points in the second period and carried a 59-44 advantage into the halftime break. They shot 47.2% from the field and went 8 of 20 (.400) from 3-point range while holding the Mavericks to 36.2% shooting.
Ellis led all scorers with 13 points in the first half. Flagg, the No. 1 pick in June’s NBA draft and the leading candidate for Rookie of the Year, was held to two points while going 0 of 4 from the field.
Second-half summary
Flagg came alive early in the second half, scoring 15 points in the first six minutes as the Mavericks stormed back to cut the deficit to three.
The Kings appeared to be in trouble with momentum swinging to the Mavericks, but Sacramento put a stop to that. Westbrook, Ellis, Malik Monk and Dennis Schroder combined for five 3-pointers as part of a 17-2 run that put the Kings up 88-70 with 1:20 to play in the third quarter.
Sacramento led 88-77 at the start of the fourth quarter. Dallas made one more run to get within five on a basket by Flagg with 1:45 remaining, but the Kings held on to win after getting a series of defensive stops in the final minute.
Going into the game, the Kings were 23rd in the NBA in 3-point percentage (.347) and 29th in 3-point attempts (30.4). They finished 17 of 38 against the Mavericks, shooting 44.7% from beyond the arc.
“We shot 20 at halftime, so that was big for us,” Christie said. “We want to make sure we’re touching the paint and making one more pass, letting guys collapse the defense, spray the ball out. We did that in the first half at a really high level.”
Up next
The Kings will travel to Southern California to face the Los Angeles Lakers on Sunday and the Los Angeles Clippers on Tuesday.
The Lakers (19-10) have lost three in a row after suffering a 119-96 loss to the Houston Rockets on Christmas Day. Austin Reaves, who is averaging 26.6 points, 5.2 rebounds and 6.3 assists, left that game with a calf injury that is expected to sideline him for at least four weeks.
The Clippers (9-21) have won three in a row going into Sunday’s game against the Detroit Pistons. They are led by James Harden, who is averaging 26.3 points, 5.0 rebounds and 8.0 assists.
This story was originally published December 27, 2025 at 4:20 PM.
