Kings 112, Mavericks 98

Another player that created a spark for the Kings was Seth Curry. The All-Star forward looked better than before and led his team to a 112-98 victory over the Dallas Mavericks. Zaza Pachulia added 13 points and 10 rebounds and first ballot Hall of Famer Dirk Nowitzki chipped in 13.

Perhaps no team in the league relies on it’s star player more than the Sacramento Kings lean on the supremely talented former Kentucky Wildcat.

DeMarcus Cousins returned to the starting lineup after missing the last three games with a lower back strain. He has been orchestrating magnificently, and many are taking notice – including his former coach Rick Carlisle.

Considering how quickly things went south in Dallas for Rondo, you would think that exacting a bit of revenge on the Mavericks would be one of his main objectives. Although not getting much time playing prior to this game, George Karl had him play 11 minutes (20 total for the game) in the first half. Cousins made all 10 free throws and has 1,798 in his Kings career, moving past Kevin Martin for second place in the Sacramento era. With Kings head coach George Karl giving Rondo the keys to do as he pleases in the offense and a one-year deal seeming to fuel his play, Matthews can see Rondo is hungry. “The last few games, we’ve been kind of going through the motions and haven’t been playing with a lot of energy, so I just tried to come out there and bring what I bring”.

Chandler Parson led the Mavericks with 14 points and three assists while Dirk Nowitzki had 13 points and seven rebounds for Dallas (10-8).

“We’re just not making shots right now”, Carlisle said.

The Kings will leave for Mexico City Dec. 1 to play Boston that game is followed by Houston (Dec. 5) and Oklahoma City (Dec. 6), both road games. The Kings pulled within 50-49 before ending the half trailing 58-54. Rondo was whistled for an eight second violation in the first half and soon after that, gave up a wide open 3-point shot to ex-Celtic Jason Terry.

NOTES: Kings G Rajon Rondo, who leads the National Basketball Association with 10.7 assists per game, managed just 6.5 assists per contest during his 46-game stint with Dallas a season ago that he told reporters before the game “wasn’t my best.”…

There’s little doubt the Sacramento Kings are a much different team with DeMarcus Cousins in the lineup.

Rondo was a free agent during the last offseason, but he was also coming off a season that ended with him chucked off of a team coached by the NBA’s president of its coaching association. Nowitzki needs to play six more games to reach 1,288 and move into the top 20 on the all-time list…. Reserve point guard J.J. Barea missed his second straight game with an ankle sprain….