The game between the Sacramento Kings and the Dallas Mavericks promised to be one of the most intriguing matches on Wednesday in the NBA. The Kings were coming in fresh after beating the OKC Thunder the day before. The Mavs also enjoyed a victory in their last meeting, defeating the Portland Trail Blazers on the road.
The Sacramento Kings went through having plenty of their roster on the health & safety protocols. Now, they have only been missing Neemias Queta who remains uncleared. The situation within the Mavs was kind of intense as they were unable to use 7-8 players. The biggest name that was missing was Luka Doncic who has been out since December 11th.
The Kings started off quite clumsy in the first quarter, losing it 20-30. They pulled off a fantastic comeback in the second quarter as they won it by 22 points. Both teams went for a break at 55-43 in favor of the Kings.
The second half began better for the Mavs who erased their deficit and took the lead in the end of the third quarter. The beginning of the last 12 minutes were great for the team from Texas who gained a 5-point advantage. In the end, Brunson and Porzingis gave the Mavs the lead, 94-92, with 33 second on the clock.
A missed layup from Harrison Barnes and a missed turnaround jump shot from Porzingis saw the game at a 2-point advantage for Dallas with 4.3 seconds remaining. Alvin Gentry subbed in Metu, Haliburton, and Hield for Holmes, Mitchell, and Bagley III.
The Nigerian Chimezie Metu got his hands on the ball with less than a second on the clock. He sent a 3-point jump shot that went in with 0.1 seconds remaining, thus winning the game for the Kings.
CHIMEZIE. METU. FOR. THE. WIN.
💰💰💰 pic.twitter.com/ay8BF7fgZ0
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) December 30, 2021
Jalen Brunson and Kristaps Porzingis led the scoring list in the match with 25 points and 24 points respectively. The top scorer for the Kings was De’Aaron Fox who dropped 16 points. Tyrese Haliburton tallied with 12 points and 10 assists, while the Nigerian hero, Chimezie Metu, finished off with 11 points on a 50% shooting from the field (4-8).
