Preview: Mavs look to continue dominance over Kings before heading into All-Star break
Preview: Kings (19-34) at Mavericks (22-29)
Mavs look to continue dominance over Kings before heading into All-Star break
DALLAS — Although the Dallas Mavericks come into Wednesday night’s matchup against the Sacramento Kings sitting 2-0 in the season series, it was specifically a 117-112 overtime road win back on Jan. 10 that may have saved the Mavericks’ season.
One night after falling 10 games below .500 for the first time since March of 2000, the Mavericks (22-29) managed to overcome a 17-point deficit to rally on the Kings’ home floor. Wednesday night, they’ll try to conclude play heading into the All-Star break with another signature victory against big man DeMarcus Cousins and the upstart Sacramento lineup. But, before turning the page towards the Kings (19-34) to head into the break on a high note, the Mavericks will first have to address the costly late-game errors to conclude Monday night’s 105-101 loss to Atlanta, which slid the Mavs to 2-1 on their current homestand.
The Dallas team will also look for a better start to the night, after missing its first six shots and trailing 10-0 out of the gate versus the Hawks.
“The game was lost in the first three minutes. We were down 10-nothing. We weren’t ready to play,” Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle admitted. “If you want it simple, that’s simple. And it’s on me. I didn’t have our guys ready to play, so I’m taking all the responsibility for this. You’ve got a team of guys that just goes out there kind of walking around at the beginning of the game. That’s on the coach.”
He added: “We have one opportunity here before the break, and it’s an important game.”
“Lack of execution at both ends,” eight-time All-Star Vince Carter said after the team’s lengthy film session on Tuesday. “I think we just made some costly mistakes and they made some great plays at the same time. We had some unfortunate miscues … which led to an unfortunate loss. There’s going to be mistakes in a game, and we’ve found ways to win before and we’ve found ways to lose before. This is just another one to go in the book. It’s painful to watch, but it’s something we’re going to need, because a lot of the things that Atlanta did offensively and defensively is for [Sacramento] as well, so we had to watch it.
“It just makes it tougher the second half of the season coming out of All-Star for us to win more games, but we have to keep going. Regardless of that one, we let one slip away, and we have to win the next one. And that’s just how it has to go. That’s why I said it’s important for us just to worry about one game at a time, instead of looking ahead.”
Fortunately for the Mavs’ sake, they’ll now face a Kings team they’ve beaten 13 of the last 14 meetings beaten the two squads, looking to continue their dominance while handing Sacramento a sixth straight road defeat.
Note: The Mavs will now try to get back on track before heading into the All-Star break, welcoming in the Sacramento Kings on Wednesday night to the American Airlines Center. The Mavs lead the season series between the two squads 2-0. The game will air locally on Fox Sports Southwest at 7:30 p.m. CT. Tickets are still available and can be purchased by calling (214) 747-MAVS (6287) or by visiting Mavs.com.
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