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The Sacramento Kings, boasting one of their best teams in a generation, host the Dallas Mavericks in a Western Conference Play-In game at 10 PM tomorrow.
The No. 9 seed Kings swept the season series from a Dallas team that has fallen into disarray following the February trade of Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers. Sacramento finished 40-42 overall and 20-21 at home, while the No. 10 seed Mavericks, a year removed from playing in the NBA Finals, are 39-43 overall and 17-25 on the road.
The loser of this game is out, while the winner plays Friday evening against the loser of tonight’s Golden State Warriors-Memphis Grizzlies Play-In game to earn the No. 8 seed and the right to play the Oklahoma City Thunder in the first round of the 2024-25 NBA playoffs.
The Kings defeated Dallas at home in December, 110-100, took an overtime thriller in Dallas in February, 129-128, and won handily on the road over the Mavericks last month, 122-98. That was the regular season, and it’s in the past.
Let’s look forward and review each team’s recent performance while previewing this matchup and making a Mavericks vs Kings NBA pick.
With their play-in position set, the Mavericks’ 132-97 regular-season finale defeat at Memphis Sunday was a mere formality as both teams sat the majority of their starters. Dallas will focus more on the 124-113 victory over the Toronto Raptors at home on Friday. Anthony Davis had a monster game with 23 points, 13 rebounds, 10 assists, and a season-high 7 blocks for his first triple-double this season.
It was a small reminder of the potential the Mavericks received in return for surprisingly shipping franchise cornerstone Doncic to the Lakers. The problem, as always, is Davis’ health. Dallas has gone just 13-20 since the landmark February trade, and one of the major reasons for that is the lack of Davis’ availability due to injury. He has only played nine games for the Mavericks, but they are 6-3 in those contests.
The 10-time All-Star is averaging 20 points, 10 rebounds, and 2.2 blocks in his short time with Dallas. His presence in tomorrow’s contest is paramount because, with Kyrie Irving out for the season, P.J. Washington (14.7 PPG and 7.8 REB), Klay Thompson (14 PPG), and Naji Marshall (13.2 PPG and 4.8 REB) are the team’s other leading scorers.
It feels like ages since Sacramento and the postseason were in the same sentence. The team lost in the first round two years ago, and that’s it. That’s the franchise’s lone postseason appearance since 2006.
DeMar DeRozan’s offseason arrival, Domantas Sabonis’ presence in the paint, and the trade deadline arrivals of Zach LaVine from the Chicago Bulls and Jonas Valanciunas from the Washington Wizards have brought a level of optimism to the club not seen in a long while.
Sabonis had 20 points and 12 rebounds for his 61st double-double of the season, Valanciunas had 22 points and 10 rebounds, and LaVine scored 20 points as the Kings closed out their regular season account with a 100-98 victory over the Phoenix Suns Sunday.
DeRozan, a six-time All-Star, leads the team this season with 22.2 points per game, although LaVine has gone for 22.4 points since arriving from Chicago in February. Sabonis leads the NBA with nearly 14 rebounds a night, 19.1 points and 6.0 assists. Valanciunas is going for 8.7 points and 7.0 rebounds since the trade as a solid post option off the bench.
Golden 1 Center should be loud tomorrow night. This Kings team is emerging, and advancing to face top-seeded Oklahoma City should be the expectation. Having already swept the Mavericks in the regular season, Sacramento will be looking for more of the same this time around.
Davis’ presence will make it interesting, but DeRozan could be the difference in the game. He averaged over 25 points against Dallas this season, including a season-high 42 in the overtime victory in February. Look for the veteran forward to lead his new team to victory tomorrow evening and score 26 or more points in the process.
Brian has been writing about sports professionally for 25 years, specializing in the NFL, MLB, NHL, NBA, men's college basketball and football, and soccer. He covered high school, collegiate and professional sports in the Baltimore-Washington metropolitan area for two decades. His written work has appeared in several print and online publications since 1999.