{"id":99913,"date":"2025-06-15T07:25:14","date_gmt":"2025-06-15T07:25:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/99913\/"},"modified":"2025-06-15T07:25:14","modified_gmt":"2025-06-15T07:25:14","slug":"mavericks-beat-the-kings-120-106-to-advance-to-face-the-grizzlies-in-the-play-in-tournament","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/99913\/","title":{"rendered":"Mavericks beat the Kings 120-106 to advance to face the Grizzlies in the Play-In Tournament"},"content":{"rendered":"

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) \u2014 Klay Thompson scored 16 of his 23 points in Dallas\u2019 dominant second quarter to get redemption for his dud in Sacramento a year ago, helping the Mavericks beat the Kings 120-106 on Wednesday night to advance in the Play-In Tournament.<\/p>\n

One year to the day when Thompson missed all 10 shots<\/a> in his final game for Golden State in a play-in loss in Sacramento, Thompson fueled the win with four 3-pointers in Dallas\u2019 44-point second quarter. That turned the game into a laugher and kept the Mavericks\u2019 chaotic season alive for at least one more game.<\/p>\n

\u201cHuman nature, when you end a season on a sour note like that you want to come out and prove people wrong,\u201d Thompson said. \u201cBut I thought I did a good job to start the game of trying to dish, rebound, play defense. The shots came to me after that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dallas advanced to play at Memphis on Friday night for the chance to get into the playoffs as the eighth seed in the West. The winner of that game will open the playoffs on Sunday at top-seeded Oklahoma City.<\/p>\n

As for the Kings, soon after the game, the team and general manager Monte McNair agreed to part ways<\/a>. A person familiar with the decision said the sides mutually agreed on the breakup. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the team hadn\u2019t announced the move.<\/p>\n

The Mavs have undergone a rough season after trading young superstar Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers<\/a> in a seismic trade that brought Anthony Davis to Dallas and vitriol from the fan base to the organization.<\/p>\n

Star point guard Kyrie Irving went down with a season-ending knee injury shortly after that trade, ending any realistic hopes of another deep playoff run after making it to the NBA Finals last season.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve had a tumultuous season to say the least,\u201d Thompson said. \u201cThe injury bug has struck us like I\u2019ve never seen before. But we\u2019re still here playing postseason basketball. We can really give the city of Dallas some hope, especially if we go to Memphis and repeat this type of performance.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dallas opened the second quarter with a 20-6 run fueled by back-to-back 3s from Thompson. Thompson hit two more 3s later in the quarter as the Mavs built the lead to 23 points at the half, removing any drama.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe shot it very well, get stops on defense and were able to run,\u201d said Davis, who led Dallas with 27 points. \u201cOffense was clicking. We had what, 44 in the quarter? We played with a lot of pace and opened up the game.\u201d<\/p>\n

DeMar DeRozan scored 33 points for the Kings, and and Zach LaVine added 20.<\/p>\n

It was a disappointing ending to an underwhelming season for the Kings, who fired coach Mike Brown in December and traded star point guard De\u2019Aaron Fox to San Antonio in February. It all led to Sacramento missing the playoffs for the 18th time in 19 seasons, raising questions about the team\u2019s future.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is where I want to be,\u201d interim coach Doug Christie said. \u201cYou guys know that. I need to finish what I started.\u201d<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

AP NBA: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/NBA<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) \u2014 Klay Thompson scored 16 of his 23 points in Dallas\u2019 dominant second quarter to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":99914,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3792],"tags":[495,2889,7,579,686,149,1314,3213,3215,4056,498,967,368,3357,6,446,986,477,4055,66,3261,582,3212],"class_list":{"0":"post-99913","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sacramento-kings","8":"tag-anthony-davis","9":"tag-athlete-injuries","10":"tag-basketball","11":"tag-ca-state-wire","12":"tag-dallas","13":"tag-dallas-mavericks","14":"tag-deaaron-fox","15":"tag-demar-derozan","16":"tag-doug-christie","17":"tag-kings","18":"tag-klay-thompson","19":"tag-kyrie-irving","20":"tag-luka-doncic","21":"tag-mike-brown","22":"tag-nba","23":"tag-nba-basketball","24":"tag-sacramento","25":"tag-sacramento-kings","26":"tag-sacramentokings","27":"tag-sports","28":"tag-sports-transactions","29":"tag-tx-state-wire","30":"tag-zach-lavine"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/114686192837292547","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99913","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=99913"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99913\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/99914"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=99913"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=99913"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=99913"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}