On Sunday, the Dallas Mavericks played the Sacramento Kings on the second night of a back-to-back. The Mavericks have no room for error as each game becomes crucial to maintain control of the fifth seed in the western conference standings. The Mavericks look to keep winning in the month of May by capturing a victory in this very important matchup.

On Saturday, the Dallas Mavericks played the Washington Wizards in the first game in the month of May. The Mavericks started this game without their costar, Kristaps Porzingis, but that didn’t become a factor as the Mavericks were majority in control of the first half by taking a 70-65 lead at halftime. The Wizards would flip the switch as they were able to comeback to make it a game. In the final seconds of the game, the Mavericks had the chance to go out in front and they did as Dorian Finney-Smith knocked down a huge three pointer to give them a one point lead. The Wizards had the chance to win it as they turned to Bradley Beal but couldn’t convert as he missed the potential game winning shot that resulted in the Mavericks capturing the 125-124 win. Luka Doncic finished the game with 31 points, 12 rebounds and a career-high 20 assists as he secured another triple-double in the win. The Mavericks also got production from Dorian Finney-Smith as he knocked down the (now) game-winning three pointer to give him 22 points in the HUGE WIN. With the win, the Mavericks record improved to 36-27 on the season, as they now hold the fifth seed in the western conference standings by them holding the tiebreaker over the Los Angeles Lakers. The Mavericks still have plenty of work to do if they want to maintain control of the fifth seed as they don’t have room for error with teams behind them threatening. Each game could be the deciding factor into which seed the Mavericks get, that’s why it is extremely crucial for the Mavericks to keep on piling wins to finish the season as they control their own destiny. After this matchup, the Mavericks will only have eight games left on the season.

The Sacramento Kings are coming into this game by going 4-6 in their last 10 games. They are recently coming off a 110-106 win against the Los Angeles Lakers on Friday to see their record improve to 26-37 on the season. The Kings were coming into this season with hopes of trying to make the playoffs but that’s not how things played out as their odds are much better at getting a good draft pick in the upcoming NBA Draft. The Kings are currently 12th in the western conference standings and 5.5 games behind the final “Play-In Tournament” spot. This team is led by Harrison Barnes as they look to gather some wins to see if they could sneak in the final “Play-In Tournament” spot. If their current trend continues, they will have better odds at getting a good draft pick than landing the final “Play-In Tournament” spot.

Coming into this game, the Mavericks lost their last meeting with the Kings 113-106 on April 26th, 2021. The Mavericks are looking to avoid being swept as they are currently down 0-2 in the season series with this matchup being the final game in the regular season series. The Mavericks previously won their regular season series last season 3-1 against the Kings. Overall, the Mavericks hold the all-time series with a record of 96-75.

The Mavericks started this game by having Tim Hardaway Jr. (right ankle soreness), Kristaps Porzingis (right knee soreness) and Tyrell Terry (personal reasons) all be ruled out for this game. As a result, the Mavericks went with Doncic, Richardson, Kleber, Finney-Smith and Powell as their starting five in this game. The first points in the game would belong to Marvin Bagley as he nailed a three pointer for the Kings to get this game underway. The Mavericks wouldn’t get their first points until the 10:23 mark as Luka Doncic knocked down two free-throws to come within 8-2 of the Kings. The Mavericks were able to trim their deficit to four points after Dwight Powell knocked down the “AND-ONE” free-throw to come within 11-7 of the Kings with 9:40 left in the quarter. The Kings were able to extend their lead back to seven points after Tyrese Haliburton knocked down a three pointer to extend their lead to 14-7 with 8:48 left in the quarter. The Mavericks were able to trim their deficit to three points after Dwight Powell knocked down a slam dunk to come within 14-11 of the Kings that forced the Kings to call a timeout with 7:31 left in the quarter. Prior to this timeout, the Mavericks opened the game by making four of their first seven attempts while the Kings made five of their first seven attempts taken thus far. The Mavericks were able to generate a 7-3 run to get themselves back in the game. The Mavericks had another slow start to begin the game (as they always have) as they allowed the Kings to “rule” to first couple of minutes in the game by getting their offense on a roll. Thankfully, the Mavericks were able to “offset” the Kings hot start by creating a “hot run” of their own to get themselves back in the game. Coming out of the timeout, the Kings couldn’t convert as Maurice Harkless lost the ball out of bounds on a bad pass that kept the score at 14-11 with 7:30 left in the quarter. The Mavericks were able to get in the “bonus” early as Dwight Powell was able to go to the free-throw line with the Kings being over the “foul limit”, which he made one free-throw to come within 19-15 of the Kings with 5:52 left in the quarter. Rick Carlisle would call a timeout with 5:10 left in the quarter after the Kings were able to extend their lead to 21-16. Prior to this timeout, the Kings were able to generate a quick 5-2 run to maintain control of the lead. The Mavericks were still looking for their first lead in the game as they have been playing from behind in the opening minutes in the game, thus far. Coming out of the timeout, the Mavericks turned to Jalen Brunson as he was able to convert on a jump shot to come within 21-18 of the Kings with 4:52 left in the quarter. The Kings were able to extend their lead to eight points after Buddy Hield knocked down a three pointer to extend their lead to 26-18 with 4:03 left in the quarter. In the final minutes of the quarter, the Kings were able to maintain control of the lead and take a 36-26 lead into the second quarter. The game leading scorer after one quarter of play would belong to Buddy Hield as he scored 11 points for the Kings. The Mavericks were led by Dwight Powell as he scored 9 points. The Kings dominated this quarter as they were able to get their offense on a roll early while the Mavericks needed some time to get their offense in rhythm. At the end of the first quarter, the Mavericks were shooting 56.3% on 9-of-16 shooting from the field. The Mavericks would need to find a way to stop these “red-hot” Kings in order to flip the momentum to their side.

The second quarter would begin by having Josh Richardson nail two free-throws for the Mavericks to get this quarter underway. A technical foul would be called on Luka Doncic for arguing with the Officials, giving him his 14th technical foul on the season (2 more before being suspended) with 10:23 left in the quarter, which Richaun Holmes missed the technical foul free-throw to keep the score at 36-30. On the same possession, Rick Carlisle would be called for a technical foul for arguing with the Officials and Richaun Holmes nailed the technical foul free-throw to give the Kings their first points in the quarter and to extend their lead to 37-30 with 10:23 left in the quarter. A crazy series of events would take place, both ended up being costly for the Mavericks by getting hit with technical fouls. You can safely assume that the “foul calls” weren’t going in the Mavericks favor in this game thus far. Despite all of that, Luka Doncic would knock down a jump shot to come within 39-34 of the Kings with 8:30 left in the quarter. The Kings would call a timeout with 8:07 left in the quarter after the Mavericks trimmed their lead to 39-37. Prior to this timeout, the Mavericks opened the quarter by making four of their first six attempts while the Kings made just one of their first seven attempts taken thus far. The Mavericks were able to generate a 11-3 run to open the quarter and to get themselves back in the game. Coming out of the timeout, the Kings turned to Tyrese Haliburton but couldn’t convert as he missed a jump shot that kept the score at 39-37 with 7:51 left in the quarter. The game would find its way to be tied after Josh Richardson knocked down a jump shot to tie the game at 39-39 with 7:40 left in the quarter. The Mavericks would have plenty of opportunities to grab the lead but couldn’t get the shots to fall down. The game would still be tied after both teams would trade shots on offense for nearly four minutes until the 4:13 mark as Damian Jones knocked down the “AND-ONE” free-throw to give the Kings a 46-43 lead. In the final minutes of the quarter, the Kings were able to maintain control of the lead and take a 61-54 lead into halftime. The game leading scorer after two quarters of play would belong to Buddy Hield as he scored 15 points for the Kings. The Mavericks were led by Dwight Powell and Luka Doncic as they both scored 13 points. This quarter, mostly belonged, to the Mavericks as they were able to generate enough offense to keep themselves in the game. At the end of the first half, the Mavericks were shooting 51.5% on 17-of-33 shooting from the field. The Mavericks have their work cut out for them as they would need much better effort in the second half if they want to generate a victory because the Kings came out to play.

Coming out of the half, the Mavericks were able to get on the board first in the third quarter by having Luka Doncic nail a jump shot to come within 61-56 of the Kings. Tyrese Haliburton was able to score the first points in the quarter for the Kings as he nailed a floating jump shot with 11:17 left in the quarter to extend their lead to 63-56. The Mavericks were able to trim their deficit to three points after Dorian Finney-Smith knocked down a jump shot to come within 65-62 of the Kings with 8:48 left in the quarter. The quarter would get off to a “slow” start as both teams couldn’t stop fouling and send each other to the free-throw line to open the quarter. Boy the Officials would have a tough time making the correct call as they clearly missed a “basket interference” call that would’ve prevented two points to the Kings. The Kings would call a timeout with 7:30 left in the quarter as a scary moment would take place with Tyrese Haliburton falling down awkwardly and would eventually need help from the training staff to help him. Prior to this timeout, the Mavericks opened the quarter by making four of their first eight attempts while the Kings made four of their first eight attempts taken thus far. Tyrese Haliburton would go to the locker room without any assistance from the King’s’ training staff as that was good news to see him walk. Coming out of the timeout, the Kings turned to Marvin Bagley as he was able to convert on a jump shot to extend their lead to 72-65 with 7:15 left in the quarter. The Kings were able to extend their lead to ten points after Marvin Bagley knocked down a jump shot to extend their lead to 77-67 with 4:32 left in the quarter. In the final minutes of the quarter, the Kings were able to maintain control of the lead and take a 87-72 lead into the fourth quarter. The game leading scorer after three quarters of play would belong to Marvin Bagley as he scored 23 points for the Kings. The Mavericks were led by Luka Doncic as he scored 21 points. The quarter was dominated by the Kings as they were able to get their offense going to maintain control of the game. The Mavericks couldn’t find any rhythm on their offense as none of their shots were falling down. Through three quarters of play, the Mavericks were shooting 43.6% on 24-of-55 shooting from the field. The Mavericks were on the verge of being swept by the Kings if they can’t find a way to play better basketball in these final 12:00 minutes of the game.

The fourth quarter would begin by having Terence Davis nail a three pointer for the Kings to get this quarter underway. The Mavericks weren’t able to get their first points in the quarter until the 11:21 mark by having Jalen Brunson nail a jump shot to come within 90-74 of the Kings. The Mavericks would basically need to stop the Kings from scoring on every possession if they wanted to get themselves back in the game because the time wasn’t in their favor. The Mavericks were able to trim their deficit to eleven points after Boban Marjanovic knocked down two free-throws to come within 92-81 of the Kings with 9:39 left in the game. The Kings would call a timeout with 8:45 left in the game after the Mavericks trimmed their lead to 94-85. Prior to this timeout, the Mavericks opened the quarter by making four of their first seven attempts while the Kings made three of their first seven attempts taken thus far. The Mavericks were able to generate a 13-7 run to open the quarter and to get themselves back in the game. There’s still plenty of time for the Mavericks to comeback and take the from the Kings, the question would become, can they execute on their offense and get some stops on defense. Coming out of the timeout, the Kings turned to Damian Jones as he was able to convert on a second chance opportunity to knock down a layup to extend their lead to 96-85 with 8:19 left in the game. Rick Carlisle would call a timeout with 7:48 left in the game as the Kings were leading 96-87 to use a “Coach’s Challenge” to review a potential call that ruled Dorian Finney-Smith lost the ball out of bounds. This was a huge call for the Mavericks as you needed to win this challenge to bring some type of energy to the team. After the review, the Officials would stick with the original call, thus the Mavericks would lose their “Coach’s Challenge” with 7:48 left in the game. After all of that, the Kings couldn’t convert as Marvin Bagley missed a jump shot that kept the score at 96-87 with 7:36 left in the game. The Kings were able to extend their lead to twelve points after Buddy Hield knocked down a three pointer to extend their lead to 99-87 with 7:14 left in the game. The Mavericks were able to trim their deficit deficit to five points after Trey Burke knocked down a HUGE three pointer to come within 99-94 of the Kings with 4:02 left in the game. The Kings were able to extend their lead back to nine points after Delon Wright knocked down a jump shot to extend their lead to 103-94 with 3:11 left in the game. It looked like the Kings were on the verge of winning the game as the Mavericks simply had no answer to the Kings’ offense. The Kings would call a timeout with 1:54 left in the game after the Mavericks trimmed their lead to 103-97. Prior to this timeout, the Mavericks were to generate a 8-4 run to give themselves a chance at coming back in the game. Coming out of the timeout, the Kings turned to Buddy Hield as he was able to convert on a three pointer to extend their lead to 106-97 with 1:37 left in the game, that three pointer might be the game sealing bucket for the Kings. Luka Doncic would receive another technical foul, that results in a automatic ejection with 31.8 seconds left in the game as that’s now his 15th technical foul this season, one more and he would be suspended for the next game. The Mavericks hope that the NBA reviews this technical foul to get it rescinded. Rick Carlisle would also be ejected as well as he got another technical foul for arguing with the Officials during the same timeout.

This team looked like they weren’t ready to play as the Kings came out “red-hot” to begin the first half by taking a 61-54 lead. The Mavericks simply cannot afford to lose this game as they don’t have room for error, given how crowded the western conference standings is. This is a very important game that the Mavericks needed to win if they wanted to maintain their control of the fifth seed in the western conference standings.

In the end, it was the Sacramento Kings defeating the Dallas Mavericks 111-99 to capture the regular season series sweep. The Mavericks record would drop to 36-28 on the season. Luka Doncic finished the game with 30 points, 6 rebounds and 6 assists in the bad loss. The Kings were led by Buddy Hield as he finished with 27 points and 6 rebounds. The Mavericks got production from Jalen Brunson as he finished with 17 points off the bench, but it wasn’t enough for a win. The Mavericks three game winning streak would be snapped as they suffered their first loss in the month of May at a costly time in the season. With the loss, the Mavericks would drop to the seventh seed in the western conference standings. The Mavericks now have to focus their attention to Luka Doncic as if his 2nd technical foul stands then he would be in danger of being suspended for the next game on the next technical foul he receives.

The Mavericks will travel to Florida to play the Miami Heat on Tuesday. This will be the fourth to last road game for the Mavericks in the regular season.