DALLAS -- At least there is no need to search for the problem.

The Kings are in a defensive funk, and there may not be a worse place in the NBA these days to experience such woes than in the new American Airlines Center against the reconfigured Dallas Mavericks.

The Mavericks used a dynamic third-quarter performance from point guard Steve Nash as the impetus to disassemble the Kings 111-97 Saturday afternoon before a sellout crowd of 20,181 and a national television audience.

 

Nash scored 15 straight points during a 4:36 stretch