‘Dagger After Dagger’: Dusty May, Daniel Gafford Explain How Sacramento Kings Guards Picked Apart Dallas Mavericks

DALLAS — Three Sacramento Kings guards scored at least 20 points Monday night in a 115-100 win over the Dallas Mavericks at American Airlines Center, the first victory of the season for Kings coach Doug Christie.

Darius Acuff Jr. scored 25, Malik Monk added 24 off the bench, and Zach LaVine finished with 23. The three combined to shoot 27-of-49 from the field and 12-of-25 from three.

Mavericks coach Dusty May said LaVine was very sound and Acuff is dynamic.

“They spread us out, and they made tough shots. Those guys are good players,” May said. “I thought LaVine was very, very sound. Obviously, Acuff is dynamic, and I thought they picked their spots well. But Monk, Monk, every time we made a run, he came in with a step-back three, dagger after dagger. So it wasn’t as if they didn’t make plays. Those guys, they went at us, and they made plays.”

Sacramento shot 52.4% from the field and 70.6% in the fourth quarter, when it outscored Dallas 34-26. Monk scored 10 points in the period, Acuff and LaVine had 9 each, and the Kings led by as many as 19.

Both teams had 92 half-court possessions, according to play-type tracking data reviewed by Dallas Sports Journal. Sacramento scored 102 points on its trips, and Dallas scored 87. The Kings also scored 38 points on 28 spot-up possessions, while Dallas scored 21 on 23.

Malik Monk Scores 24 Off The Sacramento Kings’ Bench

Before Monday, Monk had not scored in double figures in any of his first five games this season. Over that stretch he averaged 3.8 points on 22.2% shooting. From three, he was 1-of-10.

Against Dallas, Monk scored a season-high 24 points on 9-of-14 shooting, including 5-of-8 from three, with 7 assists in 30 minutes, 4 seconds. Sacramento outscored the Mavericks by 27 points with him on the floor.

His 25-footer with 5.2 seconds left in the first half gave the Kings a 54-53 lead at the break. In the fourth quarter, Monk hit a step-back 3 with 8:02 left to make it 94-79 and a 26-footer at 5:24 that made it 99-87. He also assisted on two LaVine 3-pointers in the period.

Leaky Black added 12 points and 4 steals off the bench, and Emanuel Sharp went 3-of-3 from three for 9 points. Each bench finished with 46 points. The Kings found great connection in the fourth quarter and played unselfish basketball, May said.

“They were the more determined team tonight. The more prepared team. And they came in here and earned it,” May explained. “I want to give a lot of credit to their bench. Those guys, their backup three wings, made a combined 12 threes for 36 points. So nights like that, you’ve got to find ways to overcome your lack of shooting and them shooting well. And we just, we weren’t able to do that tonight.”

Darius Acuff Jr., Zach LaVine Attack Dallas Mavericks

Acuff, a 19-year-old rookie, was the seventh overall pick in the 2026 NBA Draft out of Arkansas. He entered Monday averaging 26.3 points and leading the NBA with 24.0 field-goal attempts per game.

Against Dallas, Acuff had 25 points, 5 rebounds, and 6 assists on 10-of-21 shooting, with 19 of his points coming after halftime. He scored 10 in the third quarter and 9 more in just over two minutes of the fourth, from his free throws with 5:42 left through a 27-foot 3 with 3:41 left.

LaVine shot 8-of-14 and 5-of-9 from three, scoring 14 of his 23 points in the second half. His back-to-back 3-pointers with 2:46 and 2:18 remaining made it 112-93.

Sacramento ran 24 isolation possessions, including passes out of them, and scored 34 points, according to the tracking data. Eleven of those came in the fourth quarter. Dallas ran seven isolations all game. Out of timeouts, the Kings scored 1.545 points per possession.

Sacramento hit Dallas in the mouth coming out in the second quarter, center Daniel Gafford said.

“I feel like the main thing the coach has said is they were comfortable,” Gafford said. “We didn’t really make them do the things that we wanted them to do. They got the shots that they wanted. They were crashing the glass crazy. They kind of hit us in the mouth coming out in the second quarter. And it’s really just making us turn the ball over, honestly.”

Gafford, in his eighth NBA season, said the players entering the league now are coming in hot.

“Man, I feel like they’re getting younger every year. I feel like sooner or later, we’re going to have a 16-year-old in the league,” Gafford explained. “So it’s just like, props to everyone that’s around these younger guys because it’s like they have their head on their shoulders the right way. And that’s no disrespect to any other generation when it comes to just coming into this league, but these guys are coming in hot.”

“And it’s like they have the mentality of just going out and just making the best of their minutes,” Gafford continued. “If they don’t make the best of those minutes, they find ways to make an impact on the floor, whether they’re on the sideline or not.”

Sacramento’s guards got downhill all night, and Dallas’ big men had to help get the Mavericks’ guards over screens, Gafford said.

“Like I said, just they were comfortable. They were getting pretty much whatever they wanted. They were getting downhill,” Gafford said. “Our guards were getting killed on some of the screens. So some of the communication kind of fell on our shoulders, like the big shoulders, trying to get them over those screens.”

“But they were just comfortable, all in all. They got whatever they wanted. They took the shots that they wanted,” Gafford added. “They got the matchups that they wanted. They put everybody in the action that they seen to where they can go score on them.”

Sacramento (1-6) hosts the Los Angeles Lakers on Wednesday. Dallas (4-3) visits the San Antonio Spurs the same night at Frost Bank Center, with tip-off set for 8:30 p.m. CT on ESPN.