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DeMarcus Cousins and the Sacramento Kings came to town to face the Dallas Mavericks, and the Kings were highly discourteous guests, beating the Mavs handily.
Third time not the charm
Most of the quarters were played fairly closely (the 4th up until the garbage lineups were inserted), with the one obvious exception being the third, where the Kings outscored the Mavs 29-12, starting with an 11-0 out of the locker room and essentially putting the game out of reach the rest of the way. The shooting discrepancy went 57 percent to 31 percent. After being down just 4 at halftime, Dallas fell into a deep shooting hole, and at the other end, had no answer for the opponent.
Boogie dances all over Dallas
DeMarcus Cousins came in to the game third in the league in scoring, but showed off a dominant all-around game Wednesday night, finishing with 24 points, 14 rebounds, 7 assists, and 3 blocks. He was +34 on the night. With Andrew Bogut out, Salah Mejri got the start and picked up 4 fouls in 11 minutes. Dwight Powell got the Cousins draw most of the night, forcing Dallas to send double-teams to help when DeMarcus got the ball on the block. Cousins responded by making exceptional passes from the post, and the Kings hit their open threes, effectively removing any doubt of Dallas winning this one.
Backcourt was lone bright spot
If you’re in the habit of trying really, really hard to find positives, no matter the situation...well, there’s the Dallas veteran backcourt of Wes Matthews and Deron Williams. D-Will finished with 20-6 on an extremely efficient 6-8 shooting from the field, including a trio of triples from deep (and a four-point-play). Matthews, meanwhile, has officially entered “on fire” status shooting the three-ball, making 4-6 from distance tonight and 6-10 overall for a very respectable 16 point night, with just one turnover and a one foul. Matthews has been one of the plus/minus heroes for Dallas this year, so to give you an impression of how things went Wednesday, he was -20.
Losing to another cellar-dweller by this margin might be the lowest point for Dallas this season, but then again, it’s only December 7th! Mavs fall to 4-17, and 3-7 at home, where they’ll stay for Friday’s turn against the Indiana Pacers, who beat the Mavs back on opening night. That will finish out the four game homestand, before they journey east to Houston Saturday.