{"id":873945,"date":"2026-11-02T06:00:30","date_gmt":"2026-11-02T06:00:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/873945\/"},"modified":"2026-11-02T06:00:30","modified_gmt":"2026-11-02T06:00:30","slug":"mavericks-vs-kings-preview-dallas-looks-to-extend-win-streak-to-four","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/873945\/","title":{"rendered":"Mavericks vs. Kings Preview: Dallas looks to extend win streak to four"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1upudxki _174s0un1 _174s0un0 _1mt21p01\">The Dallas Mavericks (4-2) will look to extend the first winning streak of the 2026-27 season on Monday when they host the Sacramento Kings (0-6), who are searching for any semblance of balance or defensive identity, at American Airlines Center. Tipoff is scheduled for 7 p.m.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1upudxki _174s0un1 _174s0un0 _1mt21p01\">The Mavericks have won three in a row, including impressive showings against the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Houston Rockets, which have fans wondering whether the fifth-youngest team in the NBA, which came into Dusty May\u2019s first year as head coach with so many questions, might actually be good. I mean, what happens if the Mavs are actually good? Is that allowed?<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1upudxki _174s0un1 _174s0un0 _1mt21p01\">Monday\u2019s matchup against Sacramento offers the Mavericks an opportunity to do one of the things that good teams do: beat a bad team. Take care of business. My, how the mindset shifts when the first few things start going right.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1upudxki _174s0un1 _174s0un0 _1mt21p01\">Here are three things the Mavericks will have to account for to get a win over a struggling Kings bunch.<\/p>\n<p>Fresh air vs. stale stink<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1upudxki _174s0un1 _174s0un0 _1mt21p01\">In six short games, the Mavs have become one of the pleasant surprises of the early part of the 2026-27 season. The league is officially taking notice after the team\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mavsmoneyball.com\/dallas-mavericks-game-coverage\/63452\/mavericks-vs-rockets-recap-irving-and-flagg-huge-in-dallas-116-111-nba-cup-win-over-houston-daniel-gafford-kevin-durant\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">116-111 win over the Houston Rockets<\/a> on Friday. Cooper Flagg is one of the most likable young, budding stars in the NBA. Irving\u2019s return after missing the entire 2025-26 season while recovering from a mangled ACL is endearing.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1upudxki _174s0un1 _174s0un0 _1mt21p01\">Meanwhile, the Kings find themselves on the business end of a brutal 0-6 start in a year when the league\u2019s worst record will no longer be rewarded with the most lottery balls in the 2027 Draft lottery. Including Monday\u2019s game at Dallas, their next seven don\u2019t provide many opportunities to get off the proverbial schneid, either. Sacramento has matchups the Los Angeles Lakers, the San Antonio Spurs, the Portland Trail Blazers and the Oklahoma City Thunder mixed in after the date in Dallas. They are staring 2-11 in the eye. Third-year head coach Doug Christie is a cumulative 49-90 since taking over for Mike Brown, who presided over the short-lived \u201cLight the Beam\u201d era of Kings basketball.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1upudxki _174s0un1 _174s0un0 _1mt21p01\">This year\u2019s team has yet to hold an opponent to fewer than 121 points. The defense is\u2026 wanting.<\/p>\n<p>Mavericks\u2019 injury report<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1upudxki _174s0un1 _174s0un0 _1mt21p01\">Mavs fans have been wondering in recent days how stretch big man Santi Aldama will fit into a team chemistry that is already working as the season gets off the ground. Aldama (right knee) is listed as doubtful once again for Monday\u2019s game against the Kings. Word is that Aldama is close to being back, but it doesn\u2019t appear Monday will be the day for his season debut in a Mavericks jersey, at least not as of Sunday night.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1upudxki _174s0un1 _174s0un0 _1mt21p01\">One odd note is that Kyrie Irving\u2019s name continues to appear on the Mavericks\u2019 injury report, even after (or, maybe because) he was turned loose in the win over the Rockets. He\u2019s listed as questionable under the heading of injury management. Irving scored a game-high 35 points (in 35 minutes) and dished nine assists in the win that really got the league talking about the young upstart Mavs. The team had 73 hours off after Irving dropped 35 in a win. Is this just going to be a thing on the injury report all year, or what?<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1upudxki _174s0un1 _174s0un0 _1mt21p01\">Sergio de Larrea (right knee sprain) is listed as out.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1upudxki _174s0un1 _174s0un0 _1mt21p01\">Love his game or hate his game, rookie Darius Acuff is the most interesting Sacramento Kings talking point for miles and miles and miles. The seventh overall pick of the stacked 2026 NBA Draft class comes into the game averaging 26.3 points per game through his first six. Golden State\u2019s Yaxel Lendeborg (19.8 ppg) has made headlines for his scoring, along with his penchant for running his mouth, and Caleb Wilson (21.2) has impressed for the Chicago Bulls, but no one in the league, rookie or not, has the chance to redefine the term volume shooter quite like Acuff. Head coach Doug Christie has few other options on the roster, as Keegan Murray, Zach laVine, Ben Simmons, Maxime Raynaud and Dylan Cardwell have all been sidelined or limited with injuries to open the year.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1upudxki _174s0un1 _174s0un0 _1mt21p01\">Acuff, who was third in the nation in scoring last year while playing college ball for Arkansas, is hoisting a healthy \u2014 a robust \u2014 24 shots (9.8 3-pointers) per game. He comes into the game against the Mavericks on the heels of back-to-back 30-plus-point games and is now the youngest King (19 years, 349 days) to ever do that, surpassing the great Oscar Robertson (21 years, 357 days). He scored 38 on nine made 3-pointers in a 136-105 loss at the Memphis Grizzlies and 34 (to go along with 14 assists) in a 132-120 loss at the New Orleans Pelicans. Only Wilt Chamberlain has gotten to 150 career points faster than Acuff to start an NBA career.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1upudxki _174s0un1 _174s0un0 _1mt21p01\">Teammate Draymond Green, himself no stranger to on-court drama, had this to say <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/DraymondShow\/status\/2110015199872704964?a=9aBKcUSd9HTQY1ivvwQ&amp;s=20\" rel=\"nofollow\">on his podcast<\/a>:<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup _1bij9g79 _1bij9g78 _1mt21p01\">\u201cMy advice to him was just \u2018hey man, who else touched the ball that possession?\u2019, he\u2019s like \u2018nobody\u2019 and I was like \u2018don\u2019t have many of those\u2019 because you can end up having a bunch of those with the Sacramento Kings this year and a few things can happen, you can get guys start plotting against you, guys that don\u2019t really wanna see you do well, guys that start bickering on the side to other guys\u2026 you can get guys that get upset like \u2018aahh man they wanna give this rookie this, they wanna do that, f**k that!\u2019\u2026 and so for me when I saw that, I just wanted to give him a little game.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1upudxki _174s0un1 _174s0un0 _1mt21p01\">For the record, LaVine (elbow soreness) and Cardwell (calf strain) are listed as questionable for Monday\u2019s game.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1upudxki _174s0un1 _174s0un0 _1mt21p01\">The Mavericks and the Kings are scheduled for a 7 p.m. tip on Monday. The game will be televised locally on KFAA Channel 29 and regionally on sister station throughout the Mavs\u2019 viewership area, which includes North and Central Texas as well as parts of Northern Louisiana. The game will be streamed on MavsTV and on NBA League Pass, where available. The radio call will be on KRLD 105.3 The Fan.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Dallas Mavericks (4-2) will look to extend the first winning streak of the 2026-27 season on Monday&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":873946,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3793],"tags":[7,686,149,4057,166,39459,6],"class_list":["post-873945","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-dallas-mavericks","tag-basketball","tag-dallas","tag-dallas-mavericks","tag-dallasmavericks","tag-mavericks","tag-mavericks-game-coverage","tag-nba"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/117545325211509037","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/873945","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=873945"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/873945\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/873946"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=873945"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=873945"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=873945"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}