Mavericks 93 Kings 91: Game 78 Review

Headline
47 THE HARD WAY
Mavs don't make it easy, but hold off Kings to remain perfect on road trip.

Leaders
Mavs
Points: Ellis, 23
Rebounds: Dalembert, 11
Assists: Harris, 7
+-: Carter, +13
Kings
Points: Gay, 32
Rebounds: Cousins, 10
Assists: McCallum, 9
+-: Thompson, +8

Game Ball
Vince Carter
17 pts., 6-13 FG, 4-9 3PT

X-Factor
DeJuan Blair
6 pts., 9 rbs., 3-6 FG

Goat
The Kings rookie backcourt of Ray McCallum and Ben McLemore who were a combined 6-21 from the field and 1-9 on threes.

Play of the Game
Vince Carter's back to back transition threes that put the Mavs ahead to stay with less than 5 minutes to go.

Stat of the Game
The Mavs don't have an overall good shooting game (40.4%), but go 13-31 on threes. The Kings shot  47.4% but were 5-18 on threes.

Mavs Grades
Nowitzki: C
Marion: C+
Dalembert: B
Ellis: A-
Calderon: B+
Carter: A
Blair: A
Harris: B-
Crowder: C-
Wright: C-

Additonal Notes
The Mavs remain in 7th place in the West, a half game up on Phoenix who beat OKC, and 1 1/2 games up on 9th place Memphis who lost in San Antonio.
The Mavericks magic number to clinch a playoff spot is now 3.
Dallas was only 8-14 from the line including 3 misses in the closing seconds that kept Sacramento alive.
Rudy Gay and DeMarcus Cousins combined for 60 of the Kings 91 points and were their only players who scored in double figures.
Vince Carter passed Elgin Baylor for 26th place on the NBA's all-time scoring list with his go-ahead 3 with 4:54 to go.  He currently has 23,152 career points.

Quote of Note
“Vince is instant offense. Every good team needs punch off the bench. Your starters can only do so much in an 82-game schedule. You need the bench to come through a lot of nights, and he’s been consistent.”
Dirk on Vince

Next Up
The Mavericks (47-31) go for a perfect 4-0 road trip when they face the Utah Jazz (24-53), Tuesday at 8:00 in Salt Lake City.