Where the game fell apart though was in the 4th quarter. We got off to a GREAT start, with an 8-0 run in just 1 and a half minutes early on, and we also got the Mavericks to 4 team fouls right around the 9:00 mark, while having none ourselves. At this point, I thought the game was ours as long as we attacked the paint and hit our free throws. Then the rest of the quarter happened. The Mavericks were able to get to the line and chip into the lead with the time stopped, and the Kings stopped getting any foul calls whatsoever, no matter how much contact. The Mavericks would go THE REST OF THE QUARTER without committing a single foul. The Kings would still get a chance to go to overtime or win the game though, as J.J. Barea missed two free throws with 11 seconds left, with the Mavericks up two. The final play went horribly wrong though. DeMarcus had the ball up high, couldn't get it to a cutting Reke, drove to the basket and kicked out to Carl, who couldn't decide what to do with the ball and turned it over, meaning the Kings didn't even get a shot up. I attribute this to inexperience for Cousins (he probably should have just shot the ball instead of kicking it out to Carl, he was so close to the basket), and just one more terrible decision by Carl (who had an awful night) not to either shoot it or just try to take Dirk to the basket.
Player Recaps and Kingsflix video after the jump
Some Final Thoughts. Coach Westphal talked after the game that he mentioned the team needed to have Poise (a word that was still written in large red letters on the locker room whiteboard after the game), and not to let one bad play or miscall get them out of their game, but instead keep playing. I think he's right too, because this team, especially the youngsters, definitely seem to get down on themselves when things don't go right, and they carry that frustration over to the next play, and it just ends up spiraling out of control. He also said that he told the players to remember that its a game, and they need to have fun out there.
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