Kings at Mavericks
THE STORY: It wasn’t that long ago that the Dallas Mavericks were 1-4 and the prevailing question was, “what’s wrong with the defending champs?” After winning four straight and six of their last seven, the Mavericks seem to have answered that with a resounding, “nothing, really.” The thing that propelled Dallas to the championship last spring - aside from Dirk Nowitzki’s heroics - was strong team defense, and that is exactly what has the team back on track. In their seven wins, the Mavericks have allowed an average of 84.3 points. The best performance came Friday, when Dallas crushed the Milwaukee Bucks, 102-76. The Mavericks will be looking to make it five in a row when they host the Sacramento Kings on Saturday. The Kings are enduring a stretch of 10 of 12 games on the road and are coming off a 103-89 setback at Houston on Friday.
TV: 9 p.m. ET, CSCA (Sacramento), FSSW (Dallas)
ABOUT THE KINGS (4-8): Sacramento has trouble scoring and keeping its opponents from scoring, leading to a Western Conference-worst -9.3 point differential. Tyreke Evans scored 27 points on Friday but the rest of the starters combined for just 20. DeMarcus Cousins continued his inconsistent play, following up a 21-points, 19-rebound performance with four and four against the Rockets, snapping a string of four straight double-doubles. With Cousins struggling, Sacramento was outrebounded 55-36.
ABOUT THE MAVERICKS (7-5): Nowitzki has been playing his way into shape and has yet to match his numbers from last season, but the rest of the club is starting to come together. Jason Terry led with 18 points in a 90-85 win at Boston on Wednesday and paced the Mavericks with 17 again on Friday. With such a large lead against the Bucks, Dallas did not have to play anyone more than Terry’s 25 minutes. Nowitzki spent just 22 minutes on the court, scoring 11 points on 4-of-7 shooting.
BUZZER BEATERS:
1. Dallas has won nine straight in the series, including four in a row at Sacramento.
2. Mavericks G Jason Kidd (back) has missed four straight games but is expected to return Saturday.
3. The Kings are last in the NBA in assists.