Kyrie Irving's Fourth Quarter Heroics Lead Mavs to Win Over Kings
DALLAS — With the need to to sustain the possibility of play-in qualification, the Dallas Mavericks took on the Sacramento Kings on Wednesday night. The Mavs came out on top with a 123-118 win, improving their record to 38-42 on the season.
The Kings jumped out to an early lead over the Mavs as they were up 19-13 at the 6:44 mark of the first quarter. Dallas managed to rally back with Luka Doncic setting the tone, even taking a 28-27 lead at the end of the period.
Sacramento took control of the momentum before halftime after scoring a staggering 44 points in the second quarter. The Mavs found themselves trailing 71-60 at the break. While it hasn't happened every game, Dallas has given up 70 or more points in plenty of recent first halves and did so again.
After the break, the Mavs had rallied back with Doncic and Tim Hardaway Jr. often making important plays. Doncic's step-back 3 put the Mavs ahead 79-78 with 6:59 left in the third quarter. The score was tied 92-92 at the end of the period after Christian Wood's 3-point attempt at the buzzer was offline.
Wood later converted a four-point play early in the fourth quarter to spark some momentum for the Mavs, pushing the lead to four. Both teams traded leads for much of the fourth quarter, but Kyrie Irving took over for the Mavs' offense, scoring 12 of his 24 points in the first 5:51 of the quarter. He led Dallas to a 111-107 lead with 6:09 left to play.
Irving's fourth quarter heroics continued as he routinely hit timely shots to keep the Mavs with momentum and ultimately resulting in victory.. Irving, who leads the NBA in fourth quarter scoring, finished after scoring 19 of his 31 points in the final frame.
The Mavs have just two regular season games remaining before the start of a pivotal offseason. The play-in qualification hopes remain, but will still require help from other teams in terms of losing games to push them from the 11th spot into the final seed.
When the Mavs return to action on Friday, they will be doing so in a matchup against the Chicago Bulls in part of a three-game homestand.
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