Dallas Mavericks keep comfortable lead, eliminate Sacramento Kings in play-in
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Anthony Davis of the Dallas Mavericks goes up for a shot on Keegan Murray of the Sacramento Kings on April 16.
PHOTO: AFP
SACRAMENTO – Dallas Mavericks coach Jason Kidd hailed a team effort, as Anthony Davis recorded 27 points, nine rebounds and three blocked shots in a 120-106 National Basketball Association (NBA) victory over the hosts Sacramento Kings in a Western Conference play-in game on April 16.
Klay Thompson scored 23 points, P.J. Washington had 17 points and Brandon Williams added 17 points off the bench for the Mavericks, who will visit the Memphis Grizzlies on April 18 in the final West play-in contest.
The winners earn the No. 8 seeding to face the top-seeded Oklahoma City Thunder in the first round of the play-offs.
“There’s no give in this group. No matter who’s playing, they always believe that they got the right information to compete at a high level, and you saw that on a nightly basis, no matter if we’re starting two two-ways, or we have our healthy group,” Kidd said.
“They supported each other. Everyone in that locker room had each other’s back. It was a fun group to coach, and we still have a long ways to go.”
DeMar DeRozan registered 33 points and seven rebounds, and Zach LaVine added 20 points and nine assists for Sacramento, who were eliminated with the loss.
The contest marked just the 10th time Davis had played for Dallas since being acquired from the Los Angeles Lakers in the Luka Doncic deal in February. Most recently, he has been dealing with an adductor injury.
For Thompson, the game was some sort of redemption. The forward made eight of 11 shots, including five of seven from behind the arc, in a superior showing compared with what he dished out in the play-in round last season against Sacramento.
On that occasion, Thompson missed all 10 shots and went scoreless in 32 minutes for the Warriors in a 118-94 loss. It was his final game with Golden State. He said of his latest effort: “It did feel good to exorcise those demons in here. I know I didn’t end my season last year so well in the same building.”
The Kings committed 18 turnovers, made 46.1 per cent of their field-goal attempts and were 13 of 33 (39.4 per cent) from behind the arc at the Golden 1 Centre.
“You just can’t throw the ball around the gym, man. All of a sudden, we just lost our mind,” Kings interim coach Doug Christie said.
Failing to make the play-offs was a massive blow to DeRozan, a 35-year-old veteran who joined the Kings before this season with thoughts of a deep play-off run.
“It’s tough. It’s frustrating. You only have so many years. That window closes quick. That’s 16 seasons down. When you think about it from that perspective, it’s tough,” he said.
In the day’s other play-in game, Tyler Herro scored 38 points as the Miami Heat cruised past the Bulls 109-90 in Chicago to keep their play-off hopes alive.
He led from the front in a wire-to-wire victory that eliminated Chicago from post-season contention and sent the Heat into a winners-take-all clash against the Atlanta Hawks on April 18.
The winners of that contest will advance to the first round of the Eastern Conference play-offs, where they will face No. 1 seeds Cleveland Cavaliers.
“We just came out in attack mode. We’ve got one more to go. The job is not done yet, just to get in the play-offs,” Herro told ESPN. REUTERS, AFP
