Luka Doncic scored 26 of his 28 points in the first half and the Dallas Mavericks defeated the Sacramento Kings 132-96 on Tuesday night for their fifth straight win.
Doncic added 11 rebounds, six assists and three steals, and the Mavericks moved into sixth place in the Western Conference, one game ahead of the Kings, as both teams try to avoid the play-in tournament.
“I think just each other's play was the best, both offensively and defensively,'' Dallas coach Jason Kidd said. … “We're just trying to take what's in front of us, play the game in front of us and get that one possession in front of us to get better.”
Kyrie Irving had 24 points and eight assists, and Tim Hardaway Jr. added 22 points and six assists off the bench.
PJ Washington had 14 points and a season-high 13 rebounds.
“We hit some shots tonight,” Washington said. “We rebounded well. We played great defense for 48 minutes. So I'm happy.”
De'Aaron Fox led the Kings with 18 points, but was held to 6-of-18 shooting. Keegan Murray added 17 points.
Domantas Sabonis had 12 points, 11 rebounds and nine assists, achieving his 55th consecutive double-double, tying Jerry Lucas for the longest streak in franchise history.
“(Fox and Sabonis) are All-Stars,” Kidd said. “We just tried to be tough on them. It's a group effort, guys. It's not just one person. I thought they executed their game plan.”
Doncic scored 19 points in the second quarter, giving Dallas a 58-53 lead at halftime.
The Mavericks went on a 22-4 run to push their advantage to 89-65 with 4:31 left in the third quarter. Dallas led by 39 points in the fourth inning and outscored Sacramento 74-43 in the second half.
“I thought we played terrible in the second half,” Fox said. “I think it was probably one of the worst halves of the season.”
The Mavericks shot 55.4 percent from the field, making 22 of 39 from 3-point range and a season-best 56.4 percent from beyond the arc.
Sacramento shot just 38.9%, falling short of 100 points and falling to 0-9.
“Offensively, I looked at how we played tonight and was a little surprised at how we played,” Kings coach Mike Brown said. … “Our offense tonight led to easy baskets for them.”
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Sacramento hosts Dallas again on Friday night.
