Only 11th in the Western Conference, the Dallas Mavericks of Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving won an important victory against the Sacramento Kings (123-119), Wednesday in the NBA regular season, and can still hope to grab a place in play-in, with two games left to play. Dallas is still 11th in the standings, but now has the same record as Oklahoma City, however ranked ahead of him (with 2-1 wins in direct confrontations for the Thunder this season).
After a balanced first quarter (28-27 for Dallas), it was the Sacramento Kings, third in the Western Conference (and who will play their first play-offs since 2006), who struck first, leading 71-60 at the break. But the Mavericks managed to come back to the score and take the lead in the middle of the third quarter (79-78, 29th). The two teams then remained neck and neck. And, one minute from the final buzzer, a three-point shot from Christian Wood allowed Dallas to break away for good (123-114) and head for victory.
Three players were the architects of the Texas victory: Kyrie Irving, Luka Doncic and Tim Hardaway. Between them, they scored 84 points. Irving was the most productive with 31 points (12/23 in shooting including 6/10 at three points). In the last six minutes of the game, he managed to register three long distance shots. Doncic scored 29 points (9/19 including 3/11 three-pointers) and 10 rebounds, and Hardaway scored 24 (8/14 including 5/8 three-pointers). Frank Ntilikina, the French leader of the “Mavs”, did not come into play.
In the ranks of the Sacramento Kings, De’Aaron Fox scored 28 points and Domantas Sabonis signed a triple-double (19 pts, 11 rebounds, 11 assists). The Californians will play again Friday, at home against Golden State. Dallas therefore has two very important matches on its schedule, to hope to reach the play-in: Friday against Chicago and Sunday against San Antonio, each time at home.
