The Sacramento Kings forward Marvin Bagley III (35) attempts to put up a shot against the Dallas Mavericks Jalen Brunson (13) and Willie Cauley-Stein (33) on Sun May 2, 2021 at the American Airlines Center in Dallas (AP News photo0

By Jessica Kwong

The Sacramento Kings swept the contending Dallas Mavericks on Sunday night with a 111-99 victory at the American Airlines Center.

While the Kings are 12th in the Western Conference and face an uphill battle to reach the 10th seed to qualify for the play-in tournament, they had no trouble defeating the Mavericks in all three games within a 15-day span.

“All three of the games came during a stretch when we were playing pretty well from the standpoint of togetherness and rebounding and our defense was solid tonight,” Kings coach Luke Walton said. “It takes that type of effort to give yourself a chance to win.”

Buddy Hield scored 27 points and Marvin Bagley III got 23 points and nine rebounds. Together, Hield and Bagley had 13 points in a 15-3 run that gave Sacramento a 87-70 lead in the third quarter.

Dallas got within six points in the last two minutes of the game. Hield beat the shot clock with a triple to put the Kings up 106-97. Hield was 6 of 10 from the three-point line and Sacramento was 11 of 28.

The Kings never trailed on Sunday or in the second matchup in Dallas, starting both with an 8-0 lead. The Mavericks evened the score several times but were unable to pull ahead. Sacramento won the first game 121-107 in Dallas and trailed for only 42 seconds.

Sacramento suffered another injury on Sunday as rookie Tyrese Halliburton suffered an injury to his left knee and left the game in the arid quarter. The Kings are missing De’Aaron Fox due to coronavirus protocols and Harrison Barnes due to a left thigh injury, both of them starters.

The Kings continue to their third game in a four-game road trip on Tuesday against the Oklahoma City Thunder. Tipoff is at 8 p.m. at Chesapeake Energy Arena.