DALLAS, TX — Rajon Rondo 1, Dallas Mavericks Fans 0.
From the moment he first touched the ball on Thursday night at American Airlines Center for the Sacramento Kings, Rajon Rondo heard a hearty round of boos from the sellout crowd there to see their Mavericks hopefully beat the Kings for a 23rd consecutive time at home during the regular season.
However, Rondo, who was a Mav for an eventful few months last season before he was pretty much exiled from the team by Dallas head coach Rick Carlisle for basically quitting on them during the 2015 NBA Playoffs, and the Kings had the last laugh, beating Dallas 104-101.
And Rondo definitely did his part, scoring 18 points and chipping in 12 assists.
“It feels better to get off our losing streak. We’d lost four in a row and it was good to get a win,” Rondo said postgame.
In the fourth quarter, Carlisle opted to deliberately foul Rondo to send him to the line, and each time he missed at the stripe the crowd erupted.
Those Mavs partisans even serenaded him with a “Rondo Sucks” chant late in the fourth quarter, a chant he encouraged more of by raising his arms while walking toward the Kings bench, encouraging the rowdy crowd for more of the same.
AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez
But in the victorious locker room, Rondo took the high road when asked about that chant.
“Yeah, these fans are great. These guys are amazing,” Rondo said.
Sacramento won in Dallas during the regular season for the first time since Feb. 27, 2003, when the Kings won 126-124 in overtime. Two interesting facts about that game is that it featured two players with Dallas ties playing for the Kings.
Peja Stojakovic, who would be part of Dallas’ 2011 NBA championship squad, had 26 points and 10 rebounds for Sacramento while Jim Jackson, who was drafted by the Mavs and one of the original “Three J’s,” came off the bench in that win.
Kings big man DeMarcus Cousins led the visitors with 22 points and 13 rebounds, and after Sacramento lost on a Deron Williams buzzer-beating three-pointer back on January 5 in double overtime at AAC, Cousins admitted exacting a bit of revenge in Big D felt pretty good.
“It was good. We had a rough little stretch, but we’re in a good place right now,” Cousins said.
To his credit, Rondo took the high road when asked about the not-so-warm reception he received from the Dallas faithful.
But such a reaction was to be expected since the Mavs supporters were deprived of their first chance to let Rondo hear it back in early January since he missed what ended up being a highly memorable and eventful game due to back spasms.
However, the Dallas faithful were rowdy, proud and loud on Thursday, but Rondo downplayed the resounding boos he heard every time he had the ball or scored.
“It’s what it is,” Rondo said.
Dallas (33-29) had won four in a row and was looking to finish its longest homestand of the season, a run of six straight at home, with a win.
However, it wasn’t meant to be and the Mavs had to settle for going 4-2 during the homestand.
“It’s disappointing, but we didn’t deserve it [the win],” Carlisle said. “We didn’t play well enough. Even the first quarter where we ended up on a very good run to end the quarter, we just didn’t have much traction at either end. We were lucky they were missing some shots. From there forward, we allowed it to be their kind of game and not our kind of game.”
Carlisle even gave Rondo, a player he had his share of issues with during his time as a Mav, credit for a strong game in his return to Dallas.
“He played great,” Carlisle said. “Their entire team played great. I take a lot of responsibility when we lose. It’s tough because we had a chance to end the homestand the right way, but we didn’t deserve it.”
The win had to be a bit extra sweet for Kings head coach George Karl, who looked about as dejected and disappointed as an NBA head coach can look after that double OT loss nearly two months ago on the Mavs’ home floor.
“The last time we played here, we gave them a Christmas present and we didn’t want to do that again,” Karl said. “And we know we can beat this team and I thought our focus had an anger to it. I don’t know if it was Rondo and/or what happened the last time we played here.”
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