Mavs-Kings preview: Following up history won’t be easy

Wilt Chamberlain scored 100 points in 1962.

Kobe Bryant had 81 in 2006.

Wilt had 78 in 1961.

That’s it.

That’s the list of players who have scored more than Luka Dončić’s 73 points on Friday at Atlanta. It was one of those sports nights that you just don’t forget.

And the Mavericks won.

It was truly a magical night.

So how do you follow that up?

Thanks to the NBA schedule, you get to celebrate for precious few hours, then you rev up again for the Sacramento Kings on Saturday night at American Airlines Center (8 p.m. tipoff).

And while the win at Atlanta was much-needed to stop a three-game slide, the Mavericks know this second night of a back-to-back carries more weight because it’s against a team that they fully expect to be fighting against for playoff positioning the rest of the season.

The Kings have the same number of wins as the Mavericks, 25, but two fewer losses (18).

And while the Mavericks’ focus will be squarely on the Kings, if they needed a good reason to get over any Luka hangover from Friday night, it comes in the form of their daunting schedule.

This is the beginning of an imposing five-game stretch. After the Kings, they have four more games against likely playoff-bound opponents and three of them (Minnesota, Milwaukee, Philadelphia) are among the top three in their respective conferences.

A challenging stretch, for sure.

• The Kings are favored by 2½ points and the over-under is 243.5 points.
• Luka isn’t the only one who can score. Former Maverick Harrison Barnes had 39 points in the Kings’ 134-133 win over Golden State on Thursday. He also had a block with 22 seconds to go on Jonathan Kuminga to help preserve the victory.
• That game was the opener of a seven-game trip for the Kings. They’ll be in Memphis on Monday, then have four games at Eastern Conference foes.
• This is the second of four meetings with the Kings this season. They beat the Mavericks at AAC in November 129-113 as Domantas Sabonis had 32 points and 13 rebounds and De’Aaron Fox had 30 points.
• The Mavericks are 4-3 this season on the second night of back-to-back situations.

SACRAMENTO KINGS (25-18) at MAVERICKS (25-20)

• When/where: 8 p.m. Saturday, American Airlines Center, Dallas.
• TV: Bally’s Sports Southwest.
• Radio: 97.1 FM The Freak; 99.1 FM Zona MX (Spanish).

X: @ESefko