Recap: Well-Balanced Sacramento Kings Finally Get A Win In Dallas
By Rafe Wong
The last time the Sacramento Kings left Dallas with a regular season victory was all the way back in 2003. That notorious streak ended last night as the Kings finally defeated the Mavericks 104-101.
Notable players from the Kings were DeMarcus Cousins with 22 points, 13 rebounds, and 5 assists, Rajon Rondo who recorded 18 points, 12 assists, 5 rebounds, and 3 steals, and Marco Belinelli who scored 16 points off the bench. His slump may finally be over.
Top contributors from the Mavericks were Chandler Parsons with 28 points, 9 rebounds, and 5 assists, Dirk Nowitzki who scored 16 points, and Deron Williams who recorded 15 points and 5 assists.
In my game preview for this contest, I mentioned that the Kings needed to play solid both offensively and defensively in order to beat Dallas. And that is exactly what happened last night.
Defensively the Kings played solid and were able to allow Dallas to score just 101 points.
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I know, I know, 101 points is still a pretty decent amount to score on a gamely basis, but considering how poor the Kings have performed defensively in the past couple of weeks, any Kings fan will take last night’s performance.
Offensively the Kings were solid as well, and what made the offense fun to watch was that the team had a lot of players contribute in the scoring.
The final box score for the Kings shows that 5 different players scored in double-digit points and that 2 others finished the game with 9 points.
The Kings are accustomed to putting the ball in the bucket frequently, but it is usually done mostly by the play of Cousins and Gay. Tonight it was different and seeing the variety of players that scored tonight is the ideal version of what this offense can be.
Overall, the well-balanced play by the Kings was why they came out of the American Airlines Center victorious.
The Kings brutal stretch continues Saturday night in San Antonio, but maybe their recent victory will give this team some motivation confidence going forward.
Hopefully for Sacramento’s sake that is the case because they will need to string together a couple of wins soon or their playoffs hopes will officially die out.