Recap: Sacramento Kings Second Half Huge In Victory Against The Dallas Mavericks
By Rafe Wong
With the help of DeMarcus Cousins 31 points and 9 rebounds, the Sacramento Kings came out with the win against the Dallas Mavericks 112-98. Other notable Kings for tonight’s game were Rajon Rondo with 21 points and Rudy Gay with 20 points and 7 rebounds.
In the first half of the game, the Kings kept it close with the Mavericks by only trailing 58-54 at the end of the half. Notable Kings that played well in the half were Cousins with 11 points and 3 assists at the time, and Rondo with 10 points and 3 assists as well.
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Another player that created a spark for the Kings was Seth Curry. Although not getting much time playing prior to this game, George Karl had him play 11 minutes (20 total for the game) in the first half. As a result, Curry did not disappoint as he scored 8 points (making 2 three pointers).
In the second half, the Kings offense took it to another level in the fourth quarter as they scored a whopping 36 points to pull away from Dallas. The Kings defense also did a nice job on the defensive end, allowing the Mavs to score just 13 points in third quarter, and 40 total points in the second half.
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Overall, the Kings were able to hang with Dallas in the first half, and then made their run in the second half to pull away with the victory.
It was a big win for Sacramento. Having a record of 6-12 before this game had them in quite the hole in the Western Conference standings. But with the victory tonight they’ve made some progress.
This game also shows that the Kings are completely dependent on the play of Cousins if they want to see the postseason of at the end of the regular season. The way he is able to produce both on the offensive and defensive is irreplaceable when off the court, and if the Kings want to see more wins going forward he needs to remain healthy.
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Next game the Kings will have is against the Boston Celtics Thursday night. Hopefully the purple and white can carry on their momentum from tonight to Thursday and add another victory to the “W” column.