By Shawn Whelchel

It was a tale of two halves for the Kings as Sacramento jumped out to a commanding first half lead, but couldn’t keep their foot on the gas as the offense sputtered late, leaving the door open for the Dallas Mavericks to mount an impressive comeback to steal a 106-98 victory at home.

The Kings offense came out firing on all cylinders to start the game, jumping out to a 24-point lead in the second quarter while picking apart the Dallas defense. But half time cooled the hot shooting Kings, as Dallas began finding a rhythm of their own, outscoring Sacramento 58-41 through the final two frames to secure a come-from-behind victory.

Rudy Gay led the charge for Sacramento, scoring 26 points on the night while nearly notching a triple-double with 8 rebounds and 8 assists to boot. Ramon Sessions followed Gay with 18 points and 3 rebounds.

Dirk Nowitzki led all Dallas scorers with 23 points of his own on a historic night where the German born star passed Hakeem Olajuwon for most points by an international player in NBA history while also moving into 9th place on the all-time scoring list.

Nowitzki came into the game needing just 17 points to secure his place in history, but after a scoreless first quarter it looked as if the feat would be questionable. However, Nowitzki would not be denied his claim as the second quarter saw a turnaround from both he and the rest of the team as their 34-point outburst brought them right back into the game.

The Kings competitive first half was nowhere to be found as they came out of the locker room, posting just 15 points on 26 percent shooting to allow Dallas to take their first lead of the game in the third quarter, which Dallas would not relinquish the rest of the game, bumping the Kings to a 5-3 record in the pacific division.

The Kings continue their tough road trip against the Memphis Grizzlies on Thursday where Sacramento will look to snap their two-game skid before returning home to take on the champion San Antonio Spurs.

Game Notes:

PG Darren Collison was absent from Tuesday night’s contest with left shoulder stiffness. It remains to be seen if the guard will play Thursday night against the Grizzlies.