Wire-To-Wire! Kyrie Irving Leads Mavs to Road Win vs. Kings

SACRAMENTO — To begin a two-game mini-series on the road against the Sacramento Kings, the Dallas Mavericks pulled off a 122-114 win. By achieving the win, the Mavs improve to 31-26 on the season, and the Kings fall to 31-24. 

It was a second straight wire-to-wire victory for Dallas. The Mavs have not trailed for a single second in the two games Irving has played with them so far.

It was a near-historic first quarter for the Mavs' offense as they tallied 45 points — the second-highest-scoring opening quarter in franchise history. The offense pushed the pace and often played out of "Zoom" action and using some "Horns" sets. Christian Wood came off the bench and provided a huge spark, scoring 13 points and distributing two assists in just over five minutes of action. 

The Mavs added another 29 points to the board in the second quarter to produce the season's highest-scoring half (74 points). With their approach continuing to succeed, Dallas finished with 23 assists while shooting 28-53 (52.8 percent) overall and 12-25 (48.0 percent) from deep. The Mavs led 74-56 at the break. 

After the break, the Kings became more aggressive in sending double teams and pre-catch denials against Irving when they had the chance. The Mavs' offense sputtered, but Green stepped up to take pressure off him. The lineups without Irving proved to struggle regardless and the lead was cut to 101-87 entering the fourth quarter.

The Kings' progress in chipping away at the Mavs' lead resulted in cutting it to 10 points with 7:42 remaining in regulation. De'Aaron Fox brought the Kings within single figures shortly after with a contact finish. Dallas managed to stay afloat for the remainder of the game, thanks to high quality early-game execution. 

Irving finished with 25 points and 10 assists to lead the Mavs. Josh Green chipped in 17 points, four rebounds, and seven assists. Dallas received seven total double-figure scoring performances in this game. 

Many anticipated Friday's game as the first opportunity for Irving and Doncic to take the floor for the first time together. Doncic was ruled out during the team's morning shootaround but is close to a return. The next chance for that will be on Saturday as the team concludes the two-game mini-series.

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