The Sacramento Kings spent parts of Thursday's Game 3 without two of their starters. Doug Christie and Peja Stojakovic suffered matching twisted right ankles in the contest, and the Kings hobbled on without them.

The Mavericks? They went large chunks without two of their starters, too. Dirk Nowitzki and Steve Nash had matching wretched shooting nights, and the Mavericks gutted through without two of their Big Three.

It wasn't enough. The Mavericks squandered a golden opportunity to pull ahead of the undermanned Kings in the best-of-7 series, instead, falling 125-119 to Sacramento in Game 3 at American Airlines Center. A capacity crowd of 20,265 clanged cowbells and various noisemakers most of the night in response to the raucous fans at Arco Arena.