3 observations as the Mavericks fall to the Kings, 105-101

The Dallas Mavericks fell to the Sacramento Kings Monday afternoon, 105-101. The Kings were led by Milton Doyle’s 22 points, including hitting three of five from beyond the arc. Cameron Payne kelp Dallas close, pouring in 32 points throughout the contest.

The opening period saw the teams exchange multiple leads for the first few minutes. Dallas marched to the free throw line during the frame and the strong blitzing on pick and rolls resulted in some easy baskets for Dallas off of turnovers. Antonius Cleveland and Josh Reaves did most of the scoring for the Mavericks and after one, Dallas led 29-22.

Cleveland continued to terrorize the Kings in the second and while the Kings managed to cut the lead to single digits repeatedly, a pair of threes in the final minutes from Payne gave Dallas a comfortable 59-47 lead heading into the half.

Sacramento came out swinging in the third quarter and the Mavericks had no real answer. Bad shots from Dallas paired with really excellent Kings defense on all pick and rolls meant the Maverick offense slowed to a crawl for most of the third. Sacramento whittled the Dallas lead down to one point repeatedly but couldn’t take the lead. The Mavericks took a slim 72-71 lead into the final frame.

The fourth quarter was a wild affair with a number of lead changes, a ton of made threes, and some terrible decision making from both teams. Cam Payne kept the Mavericks alive, hitting five threes in the frame, four coming when the Mavericks were down by six points two different times, and one to give them a three point lead which they should have kept. The Kings hit a three following a timeout and Josh Reaves somehow managed to foul the screener. Sacramento took a brief one point lead on the free throw, but then managed to foul Reaves on a three point attempt. Reaves hit two of three free throws to regain the lead, but the Kings managed to score on a driving lay up from Doyle (the refs probably should have called a five second violation before the pass which led to the lay in) and the Kings would not give up the lead again. Sacramento handed the Mavericks their first Vegas loss, 105-101.

Now, some stuff:

Too many fouls

This 40 minute contest featured 62 fouls. That’s way, way too many. It made this high scoring game feel like a drag.

Josh Reaves is a mixed bag, but there’s a lot to work with

Reaves’ box score is incredible: 18 points, 10 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals and 3 blocks. He plays so very hard and was the only Maverick to corral six or more boards. However, he committed six fouls and really should have been called for twice that many. An undrafted player is not going to get the leeway to be as physical as Reaves is. That’s simply something he’s going to have to learn to work around.

Isaiah Roby needs to get stronger

Roby’s 6 point and four rebounds in 31 minutes of action is his worst performance in Vegas. We had a front row show to seeing how he was outworked for rebounds and bullied into passivity on offense. The final meaningful play of the game really highlighted where Roby must improve: Kyle Guy decided to take an ill-advised lay up after escaping a trap with just a few seconds left in the game. Roby was right there in position for the rebound, but Doyle simply took the ball from him. Not a great look for a key moment.