Klay Thompson on Wednesday night scored 16 of his 23 points in Dallas’ dominant second quarter to earn redemption for his dud in Sacramento a year ago, helping the Mavericks beat the Kings 120-106 to advance in the play-in tournament.
One year to the day when Thompson missed all 10 shots in his final game for the Golden State Warriors in a play-in loss in Sacramento, Thompson fueled the win with four three-pointers in Dallas’ 44-point second quarter. That turned the game into a laugher and kept the Mavericks’ chaotic season alive for at least one more game.
“Human nature, when you end a season on a sour note like that you want to come out and prove people wrong,” Thompson said. “But I thought I did a good job to start the game of trying to dish, rebound, play defense. The shots came to me after that.”
Photo: AP
The Mavericks, who scraped into the play-in tournament after finishing in 10th place in the West, advanced to play at Memphis tonight for the chance to get into the playoffs as the eighth seed in the West. The winner of that game would open the playoffs on Sunday at top-seeded Oklahoma City.
Anthony Davis, who joined Dallas in February from the Los Angeles Lakers following his former team’s trade for Luka Doncic, finished with 27 points and nine rebounds.
“We’re so desperate to keep the post-season alive,” Thompson said afterward. “It’s a privilege to play basketball at this time of year. I told the guys before the game: ‘We have nothing to lose. Go out there with a free swing, play for each other and play free-minded,’ because that’s when we’re at our best.”
As for the Kings, soon after the game, the team and general manager Monte McNair agreed to part ways.
A person familiar with the decision, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the sides mutually agreed on the breakup.
In Wednesday’s other play-in game, Tyler Herro scored 38 points as the Miami Heat cruised past the Chicago Bulls 109-90 to keep their NBA playoff hopes alive.
Miami point guard Herro led from the front in a wire-to-wire victory that eliminated Chicago from post-season contention and sends the Heat into a winner-take-all clash against the Atlanta Hawks tonight.
The winner of the Miami-Atlanta game would advance to the first round of the Eastern Conference playoffs, where they would face No. 1 seeds the Cleveland Cavaliers.
“We just came out in attack mode,” Herro told ESPN after Wednesday’s win. “We had a couple of days off since the last game — myself, my teammates and the coaching staff put in a lot of work and it paid off.”
Herro was backed by 20 points from Andrew Wiggins, while Bam Adebayo and Davion Mitchell scored 15 points apiece.
Australian international Josh Giddey led Chicago’s scorers with 25 points.
Wednesday’s win marked the third season in a row that Chicago have been eliminated from the play-in tournament by Miami.
Additional reporting by AFP
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