Kings lose another big game to Dallas 107-103, fall to 8th in West
SACRAMENTO — After an ugly loss to Dallas on Tuesday, the Sacramento Kings again fell short, losing to the Mavericks 107-103 at the Golden 1 Center in Sacramento on Friday night.
Sacramento, who were thoroughly dominated in all aspects of the teams' previous matchup, was in a back-and-forth battle with Dallas this time around but failed to
Domantas Sabonis earned his 26th triple-double of the season (and 59th of his career) with a stat line of 13 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists. It was also Sabonis' 56th consecutive game with at least a double-double, an active record for the era since the merger in 1976-77. Sabonis is now the all-time franchise leader with this streak, breaking a pre-merger record held by Jerry Lucas.
De'Aaron Fox had 23 points, 6 rebounds, 5 assists and 3 steals. Keegan Murray scored 12, while Keon Ellis had 16 and Harrison Barnes scored 20 to round out the starting lineup.
Malik Monk exited the game in the first quarter with a right knee injury after Luka Doncic fell on him during a shot attempt. Monk, a frontrunner for the Sixth Man of the Year award, ended the game with 2 points and 1 rebound with only a minute of playtime.
NBA insider Shams Charania with The Athletic said Friday night that it appears Monk may have a sprained MDL in his right knee and further testing would be done.
This could be another crucial loss for the Kings with the playoffs almost here.Kevin Huerter is set to get season-ending shoulder surgery, and Sasha Vezenkov has yet to return from an ankle injury.
Kyrie Irving led the way for Dallas with 30 points while Doncic had a double-double with 26 points and 12 rebounds.
Sacramento had to at least split these two games against Dallas to prevent falling in the standings, but now they sit at 42-31 and 8th in the Western Conference standings behind Dallas (6th) and Phoenix (7th) with only nine games remaining in the season.
With the playoffs just more than two weeks away, Sacramento has crucial games against Western Conference opponents in the Los Angeles Clippers, New Orleans Pelicans and the Phoenix Suns. Sacramento also has a matchup remaining against the Oklahoma City Thunder, who they likely won't catch in the standings.
However, OKC just beat Phoenix on Friday, dropping Phoenix to a 43-31 record. With only the 1-6 seeds securing a guaranteed playoff spot, Sacramento's April 12 game against Phoenix could have huge implications for the postseason.
Sacramento's next game is Sunday against the Utah Jazz.
