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Mavericks look to recover from embarrassing loss

Jan 11, 2009 - 7:31 AM Dallas (22-14) at Sacramento (8-29) 9:00 p.m. EST

SACRAMENTO, California (Ticker) -- Fresh off their most embarrassing loss of the season, the Dallas Mavericks hope they've gotten the worst out of their system as they continue their short road trip. The Sacramento Kings, on the other hand, would probably give anything to be in Dallas' position.

The Mavericks stop off in Sacramento on Sunday night for the second leg of their three-game swing as they try to defeat the Kings for the ninth time in 10 meetings.

Dallas got things started on the wrong foot on Friday in Phoenix, falling to the Suns in a 128-100 blowout - their largest margin of defeat this season. But the Kings know a little something about those kinds of losses. Just two weeks ago, they fell by 45 to Boston in one of the worst performances in franchise history. Since then, the Kings have won just once, dropping five straight to begin 2009.

To their credit, they've kept it much closer lately, losing all five by eight points or less and taking the likes of Detroit and Miami to the brink. On Friday night, the Kings took the Heat to overtime, only to fall victim to Dwyane Wade's 41-point, seven-assist effort in a 119-115 loss.

One of the positives for Sacramento this month has been the re-emergence of leading scorer Kevin Martin, who was hobbled by a sprained ankle for most of the first two months of the season. He has returned in solid form, scoring at least 28 points in his last four contests - including a 45-point outburst in a loss to Indiana last week.

The Mavericks won the first meeting between these two - and did so in rather convincing fashion. They held the Kings to just 35 percent shooting (32-of-92) and Jason Terry scored 24 points en route to a 101-78 Dallas win on November 29 in Sacramento.