Dallas Mavericks – Sacramento Kings · NBA

Win probability changed during the game. · 29 December 2021

DAL94–95SAC

Is it worth watching?

Highly recommended

It was more exciting than 83% of NBA games since 2017

· It was still open in the final minutes
· The win probability swung between the two teams 18 times
· It stayed close for almost the whole game

It measures how much the win probability moved during the game —without looking at who won or at the score— and compares it with the 10,950 NBA games with a curve since 2017. “Highly recommended” is the most intense 20%, “recommended” runs from 50% to 80%, and “skippable” is the rest. Source: ESPN.

↑ SAC winsDAL wins ↓

Home team's win probability across the game (source: ESPN). The band rises when SAC leads and falls when DAL does.

This is how the game was decided.

De'Aaron Fox decided it, the Sacramento Kings player with the most points (16, with 1 rebounds and 3 assists; +12 with him on the floor). The criterion: the winner's points in the box score; plus-minus says who was on the floor when the game opened up.

The game-winner in Sacramento Kings 95-94 Dallas Mavericks (December 29, 2021) was hit by Chimezie Metu: a three-pointer with 0.1 s left in the fourth quarter, putting the Sacramento Kings up 95-94. They never trailed again.

The biggest run of Sacramento Kings 95-94 Dallas Mavericks (December 29, 2021) was a 12-0 run by the Sacramento Kings in the second quarter (from 2:01 to 1.6 s), from 43-43 to 55-43. The Dallas Mavericks' best was a 11-0 run in the third quarter (from 5:44 to 2:54), from 58-68 to 69-68.

▸See where these figures come from

Play: Chimezie Metu makes 23-foot three point jumper (De'Aaron Fox assists).

I count as the game-winner the basket that puts the winning team ahead for good. Source: the official NBA play-by-play (since 2002-03) and each team's official box scores.

A run here is consecutive points by one team without the opponent scoring. Source: the official NBA play-by-play (since 2002-03) and each team's official box scores.

Source: the game's official box score and play-by-play.

Chimezie Metu decided this game: his points put his team ahead with 0.1 seconds left in the fourth quarter, and the opponent never led again.

It is the only game he has decided this way in the NBA since the 2002-03 season.

His profile shows the games Metu decided

▸See where these figures come from

A game is decided by the last basket that puts a team ahead in the final ten seconds of the fourth quarter or of an overtime, if that team wins.

29 December 2021 · The source is the ESPN play-by-play, play espn:401360343:622; the date is the one on the NBA box score.

Rotations · who was on the floor

Closing lineup · DAL

Ntilikina · Brunson · Powell · Green · Brown

Closing lineup · SAC

Haliburton · Fox · Barnes · Metu · Hield

Q1Q2Q3Q4

DAL

Frank Ntilikina

38′ · +6

Jalen Brunson

36′ · 0

Kristaps Porzingis

35′ · +2

Dwight Powell

28′ · -11

Dorian Finney-Smith

27′ · +1

Josh Green

28′ · -14

Moses Brown

10′ · +9

Isaiah Thomas

13′ · -1

Sterling Brown

18′ · +3

Theo Pinson

7′ · +2

SAC

Tyrese Haliburton

36′ · -5

De'Aaron Fox

34′ · +12

Harrison Barnes

34′ · +7

Marvin Bagley III

28′ · +11

Richaun Holmes

26′ · -9

Chimezie Metu

20′ · -10

Buddy Hield

23′ · -4

Damian Jones

22′ · +7

Davion Mitchell

19′ · -4

Each bar is a stint on the floor (source: NBA). The number is minutes played and the team's +/− with him on the court. DAL and SAC.

These lineups played the most minutes together.

Dallas Mavericks

Finney-Smith, Ntilikina, Brunson, Powell, and Porzingis played 13.2 minutes together.
Ntilikina, Brunson, Green, Powell, and Porzingis played 5.9 minutes together.
Ntilikina, Brown, Brunson, Pinson, and Porzingis played 4.6 minutes together.

The plus-minus of each Dallas Mavericks lineup is not shown: its rotation stints do not add up with each other.

Sacramento Kings

Holmes, Fox, Bagley, Haliburton, and Barnes played 14.0 minutes together.
Their team lost that stretch by 5 points.
Holmes, Hield, Metu, Haliburton, and Mitchell played 9.2 minutes together.
Their team tied that stretch.
Jones, Fox, Bagley, Haliburton, and Barnes played 5.4 minutes together.
Their team won that stretch by 8 points.

▸See every lineup of the game

Dallas Mavericks

Brown, Brunson, Pinson, Green, and Porzingis played 2.9 minutes together.
Brown, Brown, Green, Thomas, and Porzingis played 2.6 minutes together.
Finney-Smith, Ntilikina, Brunson, Green, and Powell played 2.5 minutes together.
Finney-Smith, Green, Thomas, Powell, and Porzingis played 2.5 minutes together.
Finney-Smith, Ntilikina, Brown, Green, and Thomas played 2.2 minutes together.
Ntilikina, Brown, Brown, Green, and Thomas played 2.2 minutes together.
Finney-Smith, Ntilikina, Green, Thomas, and Powell played 1.9 minutes together.
Brown, Brunson, Brown, Green, and Thomas played 1.7 minutes together.
Finney-Smith, Ntilikina, Brunson, Green, and Porzingis played 1.6 minutes together.
Finney-Smith, Ntilikina, Brown, Brunson, and Porzingis played 1.1 minutes together.

Sacramento Kings

Hield, Jones, Fox, Metu, and Barnes played 4.6 minutes together.
Their team won that stretch by 1 point.
Hield, Jones, Metu, Haliburton, and Mitchell played 4.4 minutes together.
Their team lost that stretch by 7 points.
Jones, Fox, Bagley, Mitchell, and Barnes played 3.8 minutes together.
Their team won that stretch by 7 points.
Hield, Jones, Fox, Bagley, and Barnes played 2.7 minutes together.
Their team won that stretch by 2 points.
Holmes, Fox, Metu, Haliburton, and Barnes played 1.6 minutes together.
Their team lost that stretch by 5 points.

▸See where these figures come from

The lineups come from the NBA's official rotation: who was on the floor and when. Each lineup's plus-minus is worked out from every player's stints and is only shown when they all add up with each other and with the final score.

Tyrese Haliburton covered 4.18 km, more than anyone in the game.

Jalen Brunson touched the ball 96 times, a game high.
Jalen Brunson made 70 passes, a game high.
Dorian Finney-Smith defended 7 shots at the rim, a game high, and opponents made 6.
Kristaps Porziņģis had 14 rebound chances, a game high.

▸See what was measured for each player

Dallas Mavericks

Player	km	km/h	Touches	Passes
Jalen Brunson	4.17	6.4	96	70
Frank Ntilikina	4.14	6.0	63	50
Josh Green	3.64	7.3	32	25
Kristaps Porziņģis	3.62	5.8	66	39
Dwight Powell	3.28	6.5	49	41
Dorian Finney-Smith	3.09	6.5	41	29
Sterling Brown	2.14	6.9	20	15
Isaiah Thomas	1.54	6.6	27	18
Moses Brown	1.19	7.0	15	9
Theo Pinson	0.92	7.1	13	12

Sacramento Kings

Player	km	km/h	Touches	Passes
Tyrese Haliburton	4.18	6.6	71	52
Harrison Barnes	3.89	6.5	46	31
De'Aaron Fox	3.81	6.3	64	47
Marvin Bagley III	3.33	6.7	31	20
Richaun Holmes	2.69	5.8	30

The figures come from the NBA's optical tracking (NBA.com) for this game; speed is each player's average while on the floor.

Who stood out on defense during the season

These figures cover the whole 2021-22 regular season, not this game.

Dallas Mavericks

Jalen Brunson drew 0.22 charges per game over his 79 games.
He ranks 15 of 386 in the league.
Kristaps Porziņģis contested 9.6 shots per game over his 51 games.
He ranks 19 of 386 in the league.
Dwight Powell contested 8.1 shots per game over his 82 games.
He ranks 41 of 386 in the league.

Sacramento Kings

Tyrese Haliburton deflected 2.8 passes per game over his 77 games.
He ranks 16 of 386 in the league.
De'Aaron Fox deflected 2.5 passes per game over his 59 games.
He ranks 22 of 386 in the league.
Davion Mitchell drew 0.16 charges per game over his 75 games.
He ranks 30 of 386 in the league.

Hustle figures come from the hustle stats the NBA publishes (NBA.com) and rim defense comes from its tracking; both cover the regular season. For each player in this game we show the figure that ranks him highest in the league, and for each team, the three best ranked. Ranks count players with at least 30 games and, at the rim, at least 4 defended shots per game.

The Sacramento Kings have won 81 of their 176 games against the Dallas Mavericks.

81-95record of the Sacramento Kings · NBA 1985-86 – 2025-26, regular season and playoffs

2-1in 2025-26

See the full head-to-head in the Analyst

See where it comes from

Official NBA box scores, regular season and playoffs, 1985-86 – 2025-26. It counts every game between the two teams that the house holds, this one included.

SportiveWorld knows much more about this game

Game context

Attendance

16.071

91.3% of capacity

Golden 1 Center · Sacramento

Scoring

189

combined points

32.2 below the season average (221.2)

⚖️ The last two minutes

Official NBA L2M report: every call in the endgame, reviewed by the league.

13 calls reviewed1 errors admitted by the NBA

Foul: Defense 3 Second · 00:07.8

Richaun Holmes → Mavericks

Holmes (SAC) is in the paint for longer than three seconds without imminently actively guarding an opponent.