Big Fourth Quarter Leads Kings To Victory In Dallas

Mar 26, 2019, 9:16 PM

(Photo by Tom Pennington/Getty Images)

Sacramento Kings Beat Writer

Free throws win games, and Sacramento needed them all on Tuesday night.

Sacramento converted 13 of their 14 fourth quarter free throw attempts and De’Aaron Fox took over in the closing minutes as the Kings defeated the Dallas Mavericks 125-121 at American Airlines Center. Sacramento rebounded from a tough loss in Los Angeles as they overcame a triple-double from Luka Doncic en route to their 37th victory of the season.

It’s the first time the Kings have swept the Mavericks in a season series in 21 years.

NEVER. IN. DOUBT. pic.twitter.com/YVFstPrxpe

— Sacramento Kings (@SacramentoKings) March 27, 2019

After falling behind 110-102 with 4:48 left, Sacramento went on a 23-11 run to end the game, starting with big buckets from Harrison Barnes, Buddy Hield, and Bogdan Bogdanovic to keep the game within reach.

After that, it was the De’Aaron Fox show.

Fox scored 10 of his 23 points over the last 2:27 of regulation, hitting all six of his free-throws in crunch time to lead the Kings to victory. Fox finished with 5 rebounds and 8 assists while only turning the ball over one time to go along with his 23 points. Sacramento as a team shot 27-32 from the line (84%) on Tuesday, well above their 72.4 free throw shooting percentage on the year.

Harrison Barnes made his return to Dallas, where he played three seasons before a deadline deal that brought him to Sacramento. Barnes received a standing ovation from a sellout crowd, and put up 18 points, including 3-of-5 from the three point line. Buddy Hield scored 17 points, and while he had an off night from the field, he delivered in crunch time as he scored 12 of his points in the fourth quarter. Willie Cauley-Stein scored 16 points, while Bogdan Bogdanovic and Marvin Bagley III added 14 apiece.

Doncic scored 28 points to go along with 12 rebounds and 12 assists in the Dallas loss, his seventh triple double of the season. In his possible last game against the Kings, Dirk Nowitzki scored 9 points over 11 minutes.

With the win, Sacramento is now 37-37 on the season with only eight games remaining. While the playoff race is all but over, these Kings seem motivated to play out these last games as hard as the first 74. Sacramento has a chance to finish over the .500 mark for the first time since the 2005-06 season when they finished 44-38.

Coming Up

The road trip continues for the Kings as they will head to New Orleans on Thursday to face the Pelicans.

Sacramento defeated New Orleans back on December 23 by a final of 122-117, a game that saw the Kings erase an 11 point fourth quarter deficit. Buddy Hield scored 28 points that game, while Anthony Davis scored 26 for the Pelicans.

Davis and Jrue Holiday, who scored 27 in the last meeting with the Kings, are considered questionable due to injury.

Catch all the action right here on Sports 1140 KHTK, starting with pregame coverage at 4:30pm followed by tipoff at 5:00pm.