Sabonis’ personal statistics did not help – the Kings had no hope against Doncic’s company

Domantas Sabonis was close to triple double figures – in 31 minutes. scored 12 points, 11 rebounds and 9 assists.

DeAaron Fox played more productively than him, 18 points, and Keegan Murray – 17 points.

Luka Dončičius scored 28 points, 11 rebounds and 6 assists in 32 minutes for the visitors.

After two quarters, only 5 points separated the teams: “Kings” trailed 53-58. After the break, the visitors from Dallas dominated on the floor, winning the second half of the game by as much as 74:43.

Kings: DeAaron Fox 18, Keegan Murray 17, Domantas Sabonis 12 points.

Mavericks: Luka Doncic 28, Kyrie Irving 24, Tim Hardaway 22 points.

This is a painful loss for the Kings, because the Mavericks are a direct rival of the Sacramento club in the standings. After the failure, the Kings dropped to 7th place (42/30), the Dallas club – 6th (43/29).

This season, it was the third duel between the teams, until then the Kings celebrated two victories.

There are 10 games left in the regular season.

New Orleans Pelicans, represented by Jonas Valančiūnas, also suffered a setback, losing 112:119 (34:33, 24:40, 32:23, 22:23) to Oklahoma Thunder (50/21) at home.

Jonas Valančiūnas played only 11 minutes, scored 6 points (2/4 doubles, 2/3 penalties), managed to recover 6 balls and made an assist. The visitors outscored the Pelicans by 11 points (+/- -11) when he played.

J. Valančiūnas had a chance to appear only in the first half of the match and remained on the bench after the break.

After two quarters, the guests led 73:58, and in the third quarter the lead increased to 20 points – 86:66.

The Pelicans managed to straighten up before the decisive quarter and reduced the deficit to a fighting distance (90:96). In the fourth quarter, the hosts overtook the guests (99:99) and with 2:33 minutes left. had a 5-point lead (112:107).

Thunder was led by Jalen Williams and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, after which the score was tied (112-112). The Pelicans were stuck in the attack, CJ McCollum threw by, Herbert Jones lost the ball, and Luguentz Dorts answered with a three-pointer in the guest ranks (112:115).

The Pelicans couldn’t find an answer and the Thunder celebrated a hard-fought 119-112 victory.

“Thunder” is in the 2nd place in the West, “Pelicans” – 5th. They have a particularly difficult schedule of upcoming matches – on March 29, they will meet the Milwaukee Bucks as a guest, followed by back-to-back road games against the Celtics, Suns, and Magic.

Pelicans“: Zion Williamson 29, CJ McCollum 23, Herbert Jones and Trey Murphy 16 each.

Thunder: Jalen Williams 26, Josh Giddey 25, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander 24 points.