Dallas vs Sacramento Odds & Prediction

The Dallas Mavericks are no longer in contention for the final playoff spot in the Western Conference and they face another outsider in the host Sacramento Kings on Tuesday. Dallas was lurking in case of collapses by both Denver and Portland but a 1-5 slide to end the month of March ended that possibility.

The Mavericks are missing the playoffs for only the second time in 17 seasons and they also are going to finish below .500 for the first time since the 1999-2000 campaign. “At this point, we’re playing with pride and trying to build for next season,” small forward Harrison Barnes told reporters after scoring 31 points in Sunday’s 109-105 victory over the Milwaukee Bucks. Sacramento rookie guard Buddy Hield is getting comfortable with the Kings and he matched his season best with 22 points in Saturday’s 123-117 win over the Minnesota Timberwolves. “I think that’s Buddy Hield’s best game as a pro,” Kings coach Dave Joerger told reporters. “Whether he made shots or not, he’s learning to do the other things – when we help, when we don’t. Some of it is just learning to be a pro and some of it is learning how we do it in Sacramento.”

ABOUT THE MAVERICKS (32-44): Power forward Dirk Nowitzki is experiencing Achilles’ tendon soreness and his availability will be determined after Tuesday’s shootaround. Nowitzki dealt with Achilles’ pain over the first two months of the season and coach Rick Carlisle will decide whether or not there is a reason to play the veteran with nothing at stake. “It hasn’t bothered me since I came back,” Nowitzki told reporters after the win over the Bucks. “Out of nowhere, at the end of the second quarter, it started to get a little tight on me and I played the third quarter and wanted to finish the game but they made the decision to sit this one out.”

ABOUT THE KINGS (30-47): Center Willie Cauley-Stein’s ailing rebounding average has picked up recently as he is averaging 11 boards over the past five games. Sacramento needed him to step up on the glass after trading All-Star center DeMarcus Cousins to the New Orleans Pelicans and the 7-footer received the message but is highly sensitive about the criticism over his paltry 4.1 average. “I’m just going after them now,” Cauley-Stein told reporters. “Before I’d just go after the ones that come to my side, and then I used to let the guards take the rebounds so they could just go. I got tired of people telling me about rebounding and (expletive), so now I just go get rebounds so they can shut the hell up.”

BUZZER BEATERS

1. Both previous meetings were blowouts — Sacramento won by 31 points on Dec. 7 and Dallas notched a 20-point victory on Dec. 18.

2. Sacramento PG Ty Lawson recorded 21 points and matched his season high of 11 assists against Minnesota for his first double-double of the season.

3. Dallas G Seth Curry (shoulder) is expected back after sitting out Sunday.