Kings Complete Season Series Sweep Of Mavs
May 2, 2021, 8:05 PM | Updated: 8:06 pm
Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports
Sacramento has won four of their last six games after defeating Dallas on Sunday night
If Sunday night was any indication on how Marvin Bagley III is feeling health-wise, I would say that the young forward is feeling pretty good.
Bagley turned in his strongest performance since returning from injury, Buddy Hield came up in the clutch late and the Sacramento Kings defeated the Dallas Mavericks by a final of 111-99 on Sunday afternoon at the American Airlines Center in Dallas.
With the win, Sacramento improves to 4-2 over their last six games and also completes the season series sweep of Dallas (3-0)–only the second time that the Kings have swept Dallas in a season series since 1997-98.
Sacramento’s starting backcourt got to work early, as Buddy Hield (11 points, three-of four from the three-point line) and Tyrese Haliburton (nine points, three-of-three from the field) paced the Kings offense to a 36-26 advantage after one quarter of play.
The Kings shot a blistering 66-percent from the field and 63-percent from three-point land to put themselves in front early over a struggling Mavericks team.
Dallas would respond by outscoring Sacramento 28-25 in the second quarter, but Marvin Bagley (13 first half points) would come alive in the second quarter to help keep the Kings out in front going into the halftime break.
Things would take a sudden turn towards the worst in the third quarter after rookie guard Tyrese Haliburton went down with a knee injury with 7:30 remaining in the third quarter.
Haliburton would be helped off of the floor and into the locker room shortly after the play. The Kings would play the remainder of Sunday’s game without their talented rookie.
With Haliburton out, the Kings relied on Marvin Bagley III and Buddy Hield down the stretch, as both players would perform well to close out the third and give Sacramento an 87-72 advantage heading into the fourth quarter.
Dallas made a push late, cutting the Kings lead to 103-97 with just under two minutes remaining before Buddy Hield drilled a huge three-pointer to all but put the game away.
Delon Wright followed Hield’s big shot with back-to-back buckets of his own to put Sacramento out in front 110-97 with 31.8 seconds left. The 11-3 run from the Kings would be enough to hold off the Mavericks and secure the season sweep, also giving Sacramento their fourth win over their last six games.
Buddy Hield provided the offense with a huge spark in the win, leading Sacramento scorers with 27 points on nine-of-19 shooting from the field and six-of-10 shooting from beyond the three-point line.
Bagley, who was originally on a minutes restriction, would blow right through the limited minutes to finish with 23 points on 10-of-16 shooting from the field and nine rebounds over 34 minutes of action.
The young big looked very comfortable and aggressive in the win, a welcoming sign as the team will need someone to turn to with De’Aaron Fox, Tyrese Haliburton and Harrison Barnes all likely to miss time over the final nine eight games of the season.
Richaun Holmes added 17 points (seven-of-10 from the field) and seven rebounds in the win.
Delon Wright had another strong performance off of the bench, finishing with 14 points, five assists and two steals over 31 minutes. Terence Davis dished out a career-high seven assists to go along wit eight points and five rebounds in the win.
Haliburton tallied 11 points and five assists before exiting with the injury, something that will be watching very closely by both the Kings organization and fans over the coming days.
Injury Updates
- Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN shared shortly after Tyrese Haliburton’s knee injury that the guard will have an MRI on Monday morning. The report stated that there is optimism that the injury is not serious. Head coach Luke Walton said postgame that Haliburton was in good spirits following Sunday’s game.
- More information on Haliburton is expected to be released at some point on Monday.
- Harrison Barnes (abductor tightness) was upgraded from ‘out’ to ‘doubtful’ for Sunday night’s contest. He is traveling with the team and is considered day-to-day going forward.
- After suffering a scary fall on Friday night in Los Angeles, Chimezie Metu’s X-Ray results on his back came back clean. The forward missed Sunday’s game due to back soreness and he is considered day-to-day.
- Robert Woodard II missed the game vs Dallas due to back soreness.
- De’Aaron Fox remains without a timetable for a return to action due to health & safety protocols. He has not played since April 21st.
Coming Up
Sacramento will play the first game of a back-to-back on Tuesday night when they face the Oklahoma City Thunder.
It will be the first meeting between the two teams this season, as OKC took two out of three games between the Western Conference foes during the 2019-20 season–the most recent being a 112-108 win over the Kings back on February 27, 2020.
Be sure to tune in for all of your Kings vs Thunder coverage right here on Sports 1140 KHTK, with pregame coverage beginning at 4:30pm PST prior to a 5:00pm PST tip-off fro Oklahoma City.
Upcoming Sacramento Kings Schedule
- May 2 @ Dallas Mavericks
- May 4 @ Oklahoma City Thunder
- May 5 @ Indiana Pacers
- May 7 vs San Antonio Spurs
- May 9 vs Oklahoma City Thunder
