New low for Sacramento

Kings set record for least first-half points in Dallas demolition job

Dallas (Reuters) The Dall as Mavericks had l i ttle diff iculty extending their winning run to f ive games as they crushed the Sacramento Kings 99-60 at the American Airlines Centre on Saturday.

Sacramento endured a horrendous first half, scoring just 23 points with a 17 per cent success rate from t he f l oor t hat i ncluded missing all nine three-point attempts.

The f ranchise’s previous low for points in the first half was 25 set in 1957 against the Boston Celtics when the team was called the Rochester Royals.

“Th e y [ S a c r a me n t o ] had some struggles and their shot-making wasn’t great, but I thought we had ATLANTA 93 Minnesota 91 CHARLOTTE 112 Golden St 100 INDIANA 97 Boston 83 Phi’delphia 103 WAS’TON 90 MEMPHIS 108 N.orleans 99 CHICAGO 77 Toronto 64 OKL’HOMA 104 NY Knicks 92 HOUSTON 107 Portland 105 UTAH 107 New Jersey 94 DALLAS 99 Sac’mento 60 LA CLIPPERS 102 LA Lakers 94 something to do with that,” Mavericks head coach Rick Carlisle said.

“We’re placing our major emphasis on energy, defence and rebounding. The guys are responding.”

Dallas seized control of the game with a 17-3 run over the f inal seven minutes of the f irst quarter to build a 27-11 lead and continued their domination through the second, putting them ahead 52-23 at half time.

“The guys are still trying to get up to speed on what I want to do and how I want to play,” said Kings coach Keith Smart, who has won two and lost four since taking over the team earlier this month.

The large lead allowed t he Mavericks, pl aying their fourth game in f ive nights, to rest their starters and their reserves responded with 68 points, led by Jason Terry’s gamehigh 21 points.