Dallas Basketball

Buzzer Bummer: Porzingis, Brunson Lead Mavs, But Lose Late at Kings

The Dallas Mavericks, led by Kristaps Porzingis and Jalen Brunson, were taken down by the Sacramento Kings at the final buzzer on Wednesday night, 95-94.

Dalton Trigg

Coming off an explosive road win against the Portland Trail Blazers on Monday night, the Dallas Mavericks came into Wednesday night's game against the Sacramento Kings hoping for similar results from the first time the two teams met this season. Back in October, Luka Doncic led the Mavs to a very close win over the Kings in Dallas.

However, the tables were turned in this matchup, as the Kings downed the Mavs at the final buzzer, winning 95-94.

With Doncic missing his ninth game in a row, Kristaps Porzingis and Jalen Brunson led the Mavs in this one, scoring 24 and 25 points, respectively. Porzingis also chipped in with seven rebounds, three assists and three blocks, and Brunson dished out six assists of his own.

"Not our best performance, and that’s on us,” said Porzingis. “We take full responsibility and what we’ve got to do is take this loss, take this feeling — this feeling that sucks — and take it and use it as fuel for the next game."

After getting out to a very hot three-point shooting start, the Mavs led the Kings 30-20 after the first quarter. However, Sacramento flipped the script in the second quarter, outscoring Dallas 35-13 in the period and carrying a 55-43 lead into the locker room at halftime.

The game seesawed yet again in the third quarter, as the Mavs' defense tightened up and cut the Kings’ 12-point lead to three points heading into the final quarter.

In the fourth, there was a lot more balance, as both teams went shot-for-shot until the final buzzer. The Mavs led 94-92 with three seconds left in the game, but a buzzer-beating three by Chimezie Metu.

Coincidently, the Mavs also lost on a buzzer-beating three-pointer 10 years ago against Kevin Durant and the Oklahoma City Thunder.

Drowned out by all the late-game drama was the results of Isaiah Thomas' Mavericks debut. After being signed just four hours before tip-off, Thomas put up six points on 3-of-8 shooting in 13 minutes of action. He also dished out four assists. Who knows if Thomas will stick around past this current 10-day contract, but all that matters right now for the Mavs is just having enough bodies to keep from having postponements.

“You’ve got to find who’s available and who’s closest," said head coach Jason Kidd. 

It just so happened that Thomas fit that description when the Mavs made it to California.

Next up, the Mavs and Kings will do it all over again on Friday night in Sacramento, although that game will start four and a half hours earlier at 5 p.m. central time. It will be Dallas' fourth game of a five-game road trip. The Mavs will finish up the long road trip on Sunday against the Thunder.

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Cary Edmondson/USA Today Sports
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21.12.29 POST Kristaps Porzingis
21.12.29 POST Isaiah Thomas
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Dalton Trigg
DALTON TRIGG

Dalton Trigg is the Editor-In-Chief for Dallas Basketball, as well as the Executive Editor overseeing Inside The Rockets, Inside The Spurs, All Knicks, and The Magic Insider. He is the founder and host for the Mavs Step Back Podcast, which is a proud part of the Blue Wire podcast network. Trigg graduated from the University of Southern Mississippi’s College of Business and Economic Development with a bachelor’s degree in entrepreneurship in 2016. After spending a few years with multiple Dallas Mavericks-related blogs, including SB Nation’s Mavs Moneyball, Trigg joined DallasBasketball.com as a staff writer in 2018 and never looked back. At the start of 2022, he was promoted to the EIC title he holds now. Through the years, Trigg has conducted a handful of high-profile one-on-one interviews to add to his resume — in both writing and podcasting. Some of his biggest interviews have been with Mavs owner Mark Cuban, Mavs GM Nico Harrison, now-retired legend Dirk Nowitzki and many other current/former players and team staffers. Many of those interviews and other articles by Trigg have been aggregated by other well-known sports media websites, such as Yahoo Sports, CBS Sports, Bleacher Report and others. You can find Trigg on all major social media channels, but his most prevalent platform is on Twitter. Whether it’s posting links to his DBcom work, live-tweeting Mavs games or merely giving his opinions on things going on with Dallas and the rest of the NBA, the daily content never stops rolling. For any inquiries, please email Dalton@MavsStepBack.com.

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