Dallas plays Sacramento’s record—and pays for it

What changed

The Mavericks got the test they had invited and failed it cleanly. Sacramento arrived as the NBA’s last winless team and left Dallas with a 115-100 victory, snapping the Mavericks’ three-game winning streak and dropping them to 4-3.

The math was brutal: Sacramento went 19-of-43 from three while Dallas finished 7-of-33. The Kings’ bench wings helped make the difference, and Sacramento also held Dallas to 41 percent overall. Darius Acuff Jr. scored 25, Malik Monk added 24 off the bench and Zach LaVine had 23.

Dallas did get useful production behind the result. Daniel Gafford made 9 of 10 shots for 20 points, Walter Clayton Jr. scored 20 in 23 minutes and Morez Johnson Jr. set a career high with 13 on 5-of-5 shooting. Cooper Flagg scored 17 but went 3-of-19 with six turnovers, and Kyrie Irving sat for left-knee injury management.

Interpretation: this was not just a cold-shooting loss. Sacramento played with the freedom and force of a desperate team, while Dallas too often looked as if the opponent’s 0-6 record would solve possessions for it. The useful part is that the warning arrived early; the next question is whether the Mavericks bring a sharper edge Wednesday in San Antonio.