• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers
• Game Tracker

Mavs continue dominance of Kings in Dallas

Apr 11, 2012 - 4:06 AM Dallas, TX (Sports Network) - Dirk Nowitzki was one of six players in double figures, scoring 15 points and grabbing eight rebounds as the Dallas Mavericks took down the Sacramento Kings, 110-100, on Tuesday at American Airlines Center.

Rodrigue Beaubois also went for 15 points and five rebounds, Jason Terry and Delonte West added 13 points apiece, Brendan Haywood had 11 and five rebounds, while Shawn Marion added a double-double with 10 points and 14 rebounds for the Mavs, who had lost three of their last four coming in.

Dallas moved to within a half-game of idle Houston for the sixth seed in the Western Conference and has now beaten the Kings 16 consecutive times at home.

"Well, we needed it," Mavs head coach Rick Carlisle said of the effort from his bench. "They had good energy, put the ball in the basket."

DeMarcus Cousins poured in a game-high 25 points and pulled down 18 rebounds for the Kings, who lost for the fifth consecutive time. Marcus Thornton, Tyreke Evans and Isaiah Thomas contributed 16 points apiece and Jimmer Fredette added 13 in defeat.

The Kings jumped on top early with a 14-7 run, but the Mavs answered with an 8-2 flurry to cut the deficit to one with 5 1/2 minutes to go in the opening quarter.

Terry buried a three-pointer with 1:09 left in the frame to tie it at 25-25, but Evans finished the quarter with a jumper to put the Kings ahead after one.

Trailing by four early in the second quarter, the Mavs used a 12-3 burst to take a 37-32 lead, before the Kings responded with the next five points to tie the game at 37 with 7:11 to play before halftime.

Holding a 47-45 lead with 3 1/2 minutes left, the Mavericks closed the quarter by outscoring the Kings, 10-5 to take a 57-50 lead into the locker room.

Nowitzki drained a fadeaway jumper with just over four minutes gone in the third frame to push the Mavs' lead to 70-60, but the Kings showed some resilience and netted the next six points to cut the deficit to four on an Evans dunk with just over six minutes left in the stanza.

The Kings stayed within single digits for the duration of the quarter, and again cut the lead to four on a three-pointer by Thomas with 37.9 to play, but Beaubois put home a layup on the Mavs next touch to extend the lead to six heading into the final quarter.

Beaubois sank two free throws with just under eight minutes to go in the game to push the Dallas lead to 92-79, but the Kings answered with an 8-0 run to cut the deficit to five on a Fredette three with 6:40 left.

The Mavs quickly answered with the next five points to push the lead back to double digits and the Kings did not get closer than eight the rest of the way.

"I thought the tone was set for us to play; we had to make sure we kept the game under control. I thought our guys did a good job," Kings head coach Keith Smart said. "This group played well, they did a good job, got the game close, and just a few little details of turning the ball over and maybe some quick shots. But that's what you get sometimes with a team that's learning how to win and close out quarters."

Game Notes

Cousins contributed a career-high six steals...The Mavs shot 44.6 percent from the floor and 7-of-14 from beyond the arc, while Sacramento also shot 44.6 percent from the field, but made just 9-of-25 from three-point range...Dallas put in 20 second-chance points, to just 10 for Sacramento...Dallas dominated on the glass, outrebounding the Kings, 56-40...The Kings struggled from the free throw line, hitting just 9-of-17 attempts.