Sacramento led most of the night, but the Kings lose their sixth straight.
The Sacramento Kings watched DeMar DeRozan masterfully attack the Dallas Mavericks late with five points in the final two minutes.
But DeRozan's catch-and-shoot running attempt bounced off the rim -- completing the Dallas comeback and handing the Kings their sixth straight loss 100-98 on Tuesday.
DeRozan dropped 21 points to lead the way. His Kings even led by 12 at one point in attacking via transition.
But Dallas watched Cooper Flagg pull off this rare moment: Finishing a layup with his left hand, his non-dominant hand.
Flagg momentarily left Dallas fans watching at home holding their breaths. He went down momentarily in the fourth quarter after drawing contact down low.
Still, the prized top overall pick in June's draft scored 20 points to lead a struggling Mavericks team.
Back to Sacramento, the Kings looked confused momentarily on who should take the final shot. The ball didn't just fall into DeRozan's hands before the last catch-and-shoot attempt. Reserve Dennis Schroeder missed a step back 26-foot jump shot attempt from behind the arc. Then Russell Westbrook fired off his attempt -- missing his own 26-footer. Then DeRozan misfired on the final three attempt.
Again, Sacramento came out firing on all cylinders in the first quarter. DeRozan nailed a 25-footer off an assist by Zach LaVine for the game's first points. Precious Achiuwa added his three from 24-feet to put the Kings up 6-4. Nique Clifford extended the lead to 11 with his 23-footer followed by Dylan Cardwell throwing down a dunk to close the first quarter.
Dallas responded in the second quarter by scoring the first five points via Flagg. Anthony Davis then joined the Mavs' second quarter scoring by getting a tip in at the 6:07 mark. Davis added two more second chance points off dunks to give him six for the quarter. LaVine, though, ended the first half off his running layup at the 17.4 mark.
But the big lead began to evaporate in the third quarter. Naji Marshall chipped in on the run by dropping six points during that sequence. Dallas outscored Sacramento 30-20 to close out the third.
Davis ended with 19 points and grabbed 16 rebounds. Daniel Gafford scored 10 points and pulled in 13 rebounds. Marshall ended with 15 while Max Christie scored 11.
LaVine handed the Kings 20 points. Maxime Raynaud scored 14 points while Westbrook and Schroeder ended with 11 points apiece.
This is officially the longest losing streak of the season for Sacramento.