Mavs lose Gafford, then fall to Kings in overtime, 129-128

Another game, another unfortunate injury for the Dallas Mavericks.

This time it was center Daniel Gafford, who departed for good with 10:46 remaining in the second quarter Monday against Sacramento after he sustained a right knee sprain when he collided with Kings guard Malik Monk. With the Mavs having no veteran big men left to patrol the middle, the Kings tallied a whopping 74 points in the paint and went on to sneak out of town with a slim 129-128 victory in overtime at American Airlines Center.

The loss dropped the Mavs to 28-26 and left them just half-a-game ahead of the Kings (27-26) in the Western Conference standings.

DeMar DeRozan slipped through two players and converted a short basket from the left side with only 1.9 seconds remaining for the Kings’ game-winning shot.  The Mavs, who had their modest two-game winning streak snapped, will host Golden State on Wednesday and Miami on Thursday before resting for the All-Star break.

Kyrie Irving led the Mavs with 30 points, nine rebounds, seven assists and three steals, Spencer Dinwiddie finished with 20 points, five assists and two steals, and Klay Thompson had 19 points. Also for the Mavs, Olivier-Maxence Prosper and Max Christie scored 16 and 15 points, respectively.

DeRozan paced the Kings with 42 points and seven rebounds, Zach LaVine and Monk popped in 17 points apiece, Domantas Sabonis finished with 16 points, 15 rebounds and eight assists, Jonas Valanciunas collected 13 points and eight boards.

On DeRozan’s game-winner, Thompson said: “He made an incredible play. I thought we did an incredible job defensively trapping him. That’s a hard shot, too. He made a really good play.”

Thompson electrified the crowd when he buried a three-pointer to give the Mavs a razor-thin 128-127 lead with just 9.8 seconds to go in overtime. Thompson said the play was one of the options on the table for the Mavs coming out of a timeout.

“It felt good when it left my hand, and it sucks that we didn’t walk away with a win and we can’t even celebrate,” Thompson said. “But that’s the life we chose and I’ll be ready to knock it down the next time, too.”

The Mavs were without power forward Anthony Davis, who suffered a left adductor strain during Saturday’s 116-105 win over the Houston Rockets. It’s not known how long Davis will be sidelined, but he was clearly missed on Monday.

“They’re still evaluating,” coach Jason Kidd said. “There’s still stuff that has to come out, and at some point that will. It’s all speculation right now.”

What’s not speculated is the number of injuries that have plagued the Mavs this season. In addition to Davis, on Monday they were without P. J. Washington (right ankle sprain), Dereck Lively II (right ankle stress fracture), Dwight Powell (right hip strain) and Caleb Martin (right hip strain).

Then came the unfortunate injury to Gafford, who had to be helped to the locker room following the collision with Monk.

“Our front line is banged up right now,” said Thompson, who was 5-of-10 from three-point land. “We got to do everything within our power to hold it down while they get healthy, because they’re such a huge part of our team.

“We’re not obviously the same without our front line, who I think is one of the best in the NBA. It sucks that Daniel went down. He’s such a huge part of what we do, and we’re going to be there to support him and do the best we can to win these next two games before a much-needed break.”

Irving had a steal and scored on a drive as the Mavs forged ahead, 116-114, with 15.4 seconds remaining in regulation play. However, DeRozan knocked down a short jumper from the baseline with 3.5 ticks left to send the game into overtime at 116-116.

Meanwhile, all night long the Mavs were engaged in a physical battle with the 6-11 Valanciunas and the 6-10 Sabonis for positioning under the basket. And that duo had a decisive advantage, especially when Gafford went down.

“In the moment (losing Gafford) is deflating just because we’ve had so many injuries this year, unfortunately,” Irving said. “When we see one of our teammates going down, and he’s staying down a little bit longer than usual, it’s a little bit more serious.

“I’m just praying for him and I’ll send out a prayer for all my guys. So emotionally, I’ll go on record as saying he’s human, so when we see one of our brothers go down we’re definitely going to feel it.”

Mavs coach Jason Kidd certainly felt it. Again and again and again. . .

“I’ve been through it,” Kidd said. “My job is to tell guys that you got to keep pushing forward, and that’s what this group has done. Through injuries, through trades this past week, the train doesn’t stop. The games keep coming.

“No one feels sorry for us. That’s just the way the league is. For us to pout, or we want to take our ball and go home, it doesn’t work in this league. You got to fight, and our group is fighting.”

The fight got a whole lot tougher for the Mavs when Gafford went down. With Lively, Powell and Davis already out, after Gafford the only other true center on the Mavs’ roster is rookie free agent Kylor Kelley, who they signed to a two-way contract on Jan. 26.

That meant the Kings were able to have their way with the Mavs inside the paint and they left this game with a sizeable 50-33 rebounding edge, including a 13-5 advantage on the offensive boards and an 18-5 edge in second-chance points.

Still, the Mavs displayed a lot of grit and determination and led, 103-91, less than four minutes into the fourth quarter.

“That group is that locker room has character,” Kidd said. “They want to win. We talked at the beginning of the season how deep we are. Well, we’re being tested right now.

“To be able to continue to keep playing with that energy and effort, that’s all we talked about. We’re going to make mistakes (and) we’re going to lose and we’re going to win. We just got to keep playing.”

The two teams went back-and-forth with some spectacular plays spiced in between. That includes Christie, who turned 22 years old on Monday, running the length of the floor and chasing down Monk and blocking his shot at the rim.

Irving, named to his ninth All-Star game when he was chosen by NBA commissioner Adam Silver on Monday as the replacement for Davis, scored seven straight points to lift the Mavs ahead, 103-91, with 8:23 remaining in the game. But the Kings buckled down and made some key baskets down the stretch in the fourth quarter and in the overtime session.

In the meantime, the sting of losing Gafford really threw the Mavs for a loop. Especially coming off Saturday’s emotional victory over Houston when the Mavs lost both Davis and Washington to injuries.

“I’ve been in this business a long time and I understand that you’ve got to control what you can control,” Thompson said. “And at the end of the day you want to peak at the right time and you want to be healthy at the right time, because the NBA season is the war of attrition, and whoever goes into the postseason with the best health and the least fatigue usually has the best shot to make it to June (and the NBA Finals).

“We miss (the injured players) so much out there, but their health is priority No. 1. We have a deep team, so we’ll hold it down until they come back.”

X: @DwainPrice