The Kings have hardly had time to lick their wounds or even slap a Band-Aid on their own situation, and here come the Utah Jazz again.
Just four days after coach Jerry Sloan's team put a whooping on the Kings in a 120-94 win in Salt Lake City, the Jazz are back for more in an Arco Arena affair. And this time, the Kings may want to actually show up for the third quarter. After overcoming a nine-point deficit to earn a 50-50 tie at halftime in the last meeting, the Kings watched helplessly as the Jazz outscored them 44-17 in the third. The numbers for the home team were nothing short of staggering, with Utah hitting 16 of its 19 field goals in the period and tallying 16 fast-break points in what became a virtual slam-dunk contest.
Yet just as it's not all that rare for the Kings to struggle in Utah, they're hoping history holds true at home.
Sacramento has won six of the last seven meetings against the Jazz at Arco. What's more, that game may mark the return of Kings shooting guard Kevin Martin. The fifth-year player has missed the past 11 games with a severely sprained left ankle, but he is nearing a return.
MAVERICKS 101, KINGS 78: The Mavericks won for the sixth time in their last seven games on the efforts of their defense, which held the Kings to a season-low 34.8 percent shooting on Saturday night at Arco Arena.
After finishing the second quarter on a 9-2 run to lead 46-38 at halftime, Dallas outscored Sacramento 30-19 in the third quarter. Mavericks guard Jason Terry led all scorers with 24 points.
