The Sacramento Kings Bubby Hield has been racking up field goals since February that has helped the club on offense. Hield finished up with 25 points against the Dallas Mavericks on Mon Apr 26, 2021 (@SacramentoKings photo)

Sacramento Holds On To Beat Dallas

By Barbara Mason

The Sacramento Kings will end the season on a sour note much as they started. This time the Kings are dealing with the loss of De’Aaron Fox who will miss 10-14 games due to covid protocol. The team very nearly beat the Golden State Warriors last night losing 117-113 without Fox. Had Fox been in the lineup chances are very good that the Kings would have come away with the win. Harrison Barnes,Tyrese Haliburton and Buddy Hield played a great game; Barnes finished with 23 points. Haliburton had 24 and Hield with 25.

Now that, with only 12 games left in the season for the Kings, all they can hope for is to play spoiler. Tonight they took on the Dallas Mavericks who currently sit in sixth place in the Western Conference. They will again lean heavily on Hield, Haliburton and Barnes in the absence of Fox.

The Kings handled the Mavericks in their last meeting 121-107 and were looking for another win over Dallas. Which the Kings were able to manage in a victory over the Mavericks 113-106 on Monday night at the Golden One Center in Sacramento. Sacramento came out strong in the first quarter and finished the quarter the same way leading 31-17.

In the second quarter the Mavericks began to chip away at their deficit and with under three minutes left in the half were trailing by three points. At halftime the Kings led 59-52. Harrison Barnes led in scoring with 13 points and Richaun Holmes had 12. The Kings got some nice work from their bench as well. Sacramento will look for more production from Buddy Hield and Tyrese Haliburton in the second half although Haliburton had seven assists in the first two quarters. This guy has been such an impressive rookie and I would think that rookie of the year is totally up for grabs right now. Haliburton has been so consistent all year and his future in the NBA looks bright to say the least.

The difference in the first half was Luka Doncic. He had a very slow start but once he got going the Kings really began to struggle. The 18 point lead that the Kings had during the first half was erased and the score was 65-63 in the early part of the third quarter with Dallas leading.

With 6:30 left in the third quarter Harrison Barnes left the game with a possible hip pointer. This was a real blow for the Kings. They had just begun to build their lead back up when Barnes was hurt. This guy has been so consistent this year only missing three games and the Kings really needed him on the court. He did go to the locker room and was there for the remainder of the game.

The Kings managed to hang onto the lead after three quarters. The score was 87-85 and Sacramento would have to lean on the three amigos Haliburton, Hield and Holmes to garner a win in this game.

So the Kings won their 25th game of the season 113-106. Holmes, Haliburton and Hield all stepped up in the second half. Holmes finished with 24 points and the bench had 34 points collectively. It was a great all-around game for the Kings.

They will be back on the court Wednesday taking on the Utah Jazz. Tipoff is at 7:00PM