Last night was a good night for the Sacramento Kings. A convincing win that wasn’t as close as the final score suggests, winning the first game back home after a long road trip, beating an inferior team missing a star, last night really checked off a lot of boxes for the Kings and helped them move past some bad trends from earlier in the season. The Kings have been playing great lately and have won 7 of their last 10. Their reward? A critical matchup against the Dallas Mavericks. Both teams stand at 42-29 records. The Kings play them tonight, and then again on Friday. The Kings hold a 2-0 lead on the Mavericks this season. A win tonight secures the tiebreak advantage, and would move the Kings a game ahead of the Mavericks in the dogfight for the six seed.
Let’s talk Kings basketball!
When: Tuesday, March 26th, 7:00 PM PT
Where: Golden 1 Center, Sacramento, CA
TV: TNT
Radio: Sactown Sports 1140
Last Time
The Kings beat the Mavericks for the second time in Dallas back on January 27th, 120-115 behind 34 points from De’Aaron Fox. Keegan Murray scored 15 points but it was his stellar defensive effort on Luka Doncic that changed the game. Doncic had a monster triple-double with 28 points, 17 assists and 10 rebounds but shot just 9-26 from the field a game after scoring 73 points.
Three in the Key
No excuses: The Kings are on the second night of a back to back. So are the Mavericks, who beat the Utah Jazz last night. Luka Doncic played 41 minutes, Kyrie Irving played 36. The Jazz lost the game, but they pushed the Mavs into playing all their starters heavy minutes. Both teams come into this game tired, but the Kings are at home and didn’t travel last night. No excuses, just take care of business.
Bring on the Bench Mob: One of the keys to the Mavericks late-season success has been their newfound depth. The Mavs spent most of the early season riddled with injuries. Well, the Mavs got healthy, and added some depth at the trade deadline. The Mavs still tend to only go as far as Luka and Kyrie can carry them, but they do at least have some help now. As the Kings now are dealing with their own injuries, Sacramento will need their bench to step up. They did great last night against the 76ers, especially Alex Len and Davion Mitchell.
Mr. Monk and the Missing Threes: Is it cheating to discuss Malik Monk separately from the rest of the bench? Probably, but I’m going to do it anyway. Malik has had a rough couple of games. After an 0fer against the Magic, the Sixers held Monk to just 11 points last night. Monk was 0-for-5 from three. But the best thing about the Kings 6th Man of the Year candidate is that I’m not worried. I’m simply waiting for him to go off again. Tonight would be a great night to do it.
Prediction
De’Aaron Fox paints a masterpiece from the midrange, Domantas Sabonis casually drops another double-double, and Monk breaks out for a 40-piece.
Kings 115, Mavericks 106
Fan Predictions
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