At 81-74, Dallas still had a plausible path back into the game. The Mavericks had scored 21 points in the third quarter, then improved to 26 in the fourth. Sacramento simply made the closing period busier and more productive, scoring 34 points on the way to a 115-100 victory Monday at American Airlines Center.
The difference was less about whether Dallas could score late than whether Sacramento could keep control after each successful Mavericks possession. The Kings did that with a rotating cast of contributors, taking a seven-point lead into the fourth and building it into a 15-point win without relying on one uninterrupted avalanche.
Dallas’ best push began with the score 94-79. Walter Clayton Jr. hit a 24-foot 3-pointer with 7:47 left, then made another 25-footer at the 5:59 mark. Morez Johnson Jr. dunked between the two threes, and the Mavericks had cut the margin to 94-87.
Clayton scored 11 points in the fourth quarter, finishing 6-for-9 from the field and 4-for-5 from 3-point range. Johnson made all five of his shots and scored 13 points overall.
That was meaningful offensive improvement, especially after Dallas had managed only 21 points in the third. It was also a short-lived advantage because Sacramento answered through different hands. Darius Acuff Jr. made two free throws after Clayton’s second 3-pointer.
Malik Monk then hit a 25-foot 3-pointer, and Acuff later scored on a floater. Without a Dallas score in between, Sacramento rebuilt a 14-point lead at 101-87 before the Mavericks could turn the comeback into a one-possession contest.
The pattern had begun earlier in the quarter. Monk opened the fourth with an 11-foot driving floater, and Zach LaVine’s 25-foot 3-pointer later made the score 89-77. Monk followed with a step-back jumper and then a 24-foot step-back 3, extending the lead to 94-79.
His fourth-quarter production was not merely a scoring burst: Monk finished with 24 points and seven assists, and his passing also connected him to LaVine for two of the Kings’ most damaging late baskets.
Acuff supplied a different kind of pressure. He finished with 25 points and six assists, and his late scoring appeared in separate forms: free throws, a driving floater, a layup and a 26-foot 3-pointer. The 3 came with 3:41 left and pushed Sacramento ahead 106-91.
Those points did not arrive as nine unanswered; Dallas scored during the stretch. Acuff’s value was that he kept producing as the Mavericks tried to make the margin smaller, forcing them to solve another scorer instead of waiting for one obvious Kings option to cool off.
