Whoever the Mavericks meet in the playoffs is going to be a tough matchup.
But the good news is it won’t be Sacramento.
For the second time in just over a week, the Kings pounced on the Mavericks from the start and persevered for a victory that could only be labeled as painful for the Mavericks.
With a skeleton roster because of injuries, the Mavericks fell behind by 18 points in the first quarter, made a nice rally, but eventually fell 113-106 at Golden 1 Center in Sacramento.
It was a different sort of game than the 121-107 Kings’ win in Dallas on April 18. But the result was the same as the Mavericks’ three-game winning streak ended.
They were 3-0 in the past nine days against everybody not named Sacramento. And the bad news is there’s another game against the Kings coming on Sunday in Dallas.
These are the same lottery-bound Kings who had a nine-game losing streak before their win in Dallas. The Mavericks simply have not found a way to attack Sacramento’s notoriously porous defense.
The injuries certainly hurt them. But being shorthanded didn’t excuse the terrible first quarter.
“Pretty simple,” coach Rick Carlisle said. “Another poor start really did us in. The first quarter, if you look at it on the stat sheet, looks like a 14-point deficit. But we were down 20-3. We just got to be way better to start the game.
“Early holes are hard to dig out of and it’s tiring talking about it over and over again. But we’ve got to be better and we’re going to have an opportunity in a pretty short period of time to try to do that.”
That would be Tuesday night at Golden State (8:30 p.m., TNT).
At first glance, it appeared the entire Mavericks’ roster was questionable earlier on Monday.
By game time, Kristaps Porzingis (left ankle), Josh Richardson (right hamstring) and J.J. Redick (right heel) all had been ruled out.
Luka Dončić was good to go despite an elbow contusion. And Dorian Finney-Smith and Maxi Kleber both were in the starting lineup despite aches and pains. Kleber did not play in the second half as Carlisle said it didn’t appear the 6-10 forward was moving well.
Of course, it wasn’t like the Kings were full strength, either. High-scoring guard De’Aaron Fox is out because he’s been put in COVID-19 health and safety protocols. And in the third quarter, Harrison Barnes went to the locker room with an injury after scoring 19 points. He did not return. They also have been without center Marvin Bagley for weeks.
The Mavericks don’t know if any of their injured players will be back against the Warriors. But one sure thing is that they can’t afford to fall behind by 18 points in the first quarter.
The Mavericks gave themselves a shot down the stretch. But it wasn’t enough to overcome their miserable first quarter.
So what is it about the Kings that the Mavericks can’t solve? And did human nature get the best of the Mavericks in this one?
“I definitely think so,” said Trey Burke, who played wonderfully off the bench with 19 points and five assists, especially considering he had not played in six games. “We’ve been on a high. We’ve been winning.
“That’s a team that plays very hard and with a lot of energy. And this year, we’ve had trouble with teams like that, particularly at the beginning of games. Tonight, the first quarter, we got off to a very slow start and shot ourselves in the foot pretty much for the whole game.”
What the result showed is that the last dozen games are going to be littered with land mines that the Mavericks are going to have to avoid. And falling into early big holes is never going to be part of their winning equation.
“There’s rarely growth without setbacks and without some level of failure here and there,” Carlisle said. “Look, we had three good wins. And that was great. I think human nature got us a little, too. Sac played last night (losing at Golden State). No Fox. No Bagley. Those things are hard to factor about how your team is exactly going to feel about playing in that type of situation.
“But it’s an NBA game. You step between the lines, there’s going to be a high level of competition. I don’t care who the team. I don’t care what their record. Any of that stuff. But this is what we got to learn from.”
The Mavericks trailed most of the way, although they got back in the game behind their Burke-led bench.
They were shadowing the Kings in the fourth quarter, which started with a steal and slam by rookie Josh Green, one of the Mavericks pressed into service because of the injuries.
The Mavericks were trying to pull off the rally behind Dončić, who always seems to go big against the Kings. In the previous six meetings, he had averaged 30.7 points, 12.3 rebounds and 10.2 assists.
He was doing all he could again. But his turnover led to a couple free throws by Maurice Harkless that put Sacramento ahead 102-97 with 5:22 left.
It remained a five-point deficit until a miss by Tim Hardaway Jr., opened the door for a three from Buddy Hield for an eight-point Kings lead. The Mavericks got it back to five again, but there was no Luka Magic this time. The newly minted Western Conference player of the week missed a 3-pointer and the Kings made their free throws down the stretch to go 2-0 against the Mavericks.
Twitter: @ESefko
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