Mavs Rout Kings
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SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The Dallas Mavericks weren’t about to surrender another huge lead. Not with a second consecutive opportunity to protect one.
“That was a game we had to get,” Dallas coach Rick Carlisle said after guard Monta Ellis’ 21 points paced five players in double figures and led the Mavericks to a 101-78 rout of the Sacramento Kings at Sleep Train Arena on Thursday. “The last one was tough.”
That might be an understatement. The Mavericks arrived in Sacramento licking their wounds after being torched for 51 points by Golden State guard Stephen Curry in a 128-114 road loss to the Warriors that unfolded after Dallas jumped to a 22-point, first-quarter lead.
Against Sacramento, the Mavericks never wilted. They blitzed the Kings with 14 straight points to unlock a 35-35 contest in the second quarter, part of a 25-8 blitz to close the quarter. They never trailed by fewer than 15 points the rest of the way.
“Nobody on this team likes to lose or likes it when a guy scores 50 points,” Mavericks guard J.J. Barea said, “so it was good to bounce back.”
Center Tyson Chandler added 16 points and 16 rebounds, and the Mavericks beat Sacramento for the sixth straight time on a night forward Dirk Nowitzki did not play. Nowitzki, the Mavericks’ second-leading scorer, sat out because of what Carlisle said was a concession to his team’s third game in four nights.
Barea and guard Devin Harris each scored 15 points, and forward
Richard Jefferson scored 14 and canned three 3-pointers for Dallas.
“Our balance all-around was good,” Carlisle said. “And it had to be without Dirk.”
Ellis sank nine of 16 shots and made three of Dallas’ 12 3-pointers. He scored 11 points during the late-second-quarter run.
“I was just taking my time and not trying to press it,” Ellis said. “I was reading what the defense gave me, and when I had shots, I took them. Fortunately, they were going in.”
Center DeMarcus Cousins recorded 23 points and 11 rebounds, his 13th double-double in the past 14 games, but Sacramento lost for the 10th time in 11 games and for the sixth straight time at home. The Kings’ home skid is their longest since an eight-game run early in 2008-09.
Sacramento (17-31) has not won back-to-back contests since November and has won just eight of 34 since a 9-5 start. The Kings trailed by at least 20 points at one point in six of their past seven games, and they gave up 23-0 and 14-0 runs in their past two games.
“It’s the same team, the same team,” Cousins said. “It’s the same team that everybody was praising, so yeah, we can change. It’s just a matter of everybody changing their attitude.”
The Kings played the entire second half without point guard Darren Collison, who sustained an abdominal strain late in the second quarter when he appeared to land awkwardly after a drive to the basket. Collison, who scored in double figures in his previous 22 games, finished with six points.
Guard Ramon Sessions scored seven points on 3-for-4 shooting, but the rest of Sacramento’s backcourt — Ben McLemore (2-for-9), Nik Stauskas (1-for-10) and Ray McCallum (2-for-10) — were a combined 5-for-29, including 2-for-15 from 3-point distance.
Forward Rudy Gay scored 11 points, the only King other than Cousins to finish in double figures. However, he shot 2-for-13 overall and missed all four of his 3-pointers. Overall, Sacramento converted just 29 of 79 shots (36.7 percent) from the field and only three of 21 (14.3 percent) from 3-point distance.
“It comes down to playing hard,” Cousins said. “Get some pride, have some self-respect, act like you care.”
Dallas, which hasn’t lost to Sacramento since Dec. 9, 2013, won for the 19th time on the road, the best total in the NBA. The Mavericks also improved to 17-2 when holding opponents under 100 points.
Sacramento’s point total was its lowest of the season.
“I think we’re trying,” Kings coach Tyrone Corbin said. “I think we get deflated when things don’t go well for us. We have to fight our way through it.”
