The Dallas Mavericks (21-37) were beaten early and late by the Sacramento Kings (14-47) at home on Thursday, falling 130-121 in their first home game in over a month. Precious Achiuwa scored a career high 29 points against Dallas, leading the Kings. He also chipped in 12 rebounds and four assists. Naji Marshall was the best Dallas player, scoring 36 to go along with 10 rebounds and six helpers.

The first quarter of Mavericks-Kings really proved that in the NBA, anything is possible. With a couple of wonky lineups, largely due to neither team having anything resembling their normal roster, there wasn’t much defense to be played on either side of the ball. And while Marshall had himself a quarter, scoring 13, every other Maverick was some variation of bad. The Kings, meanwhile, put up baskets with ease. Dallas left quarter one down 42-28.

The Kings stopped scoring at will in the second quarter, and the two teams settled into a bit of a slog. Sacramento did grow the lead to as many as 18 in the frame before Dallas found some dignity and made a push. But they weren’t able to make it a close game in one quarter. Sacramento finally committed a few turnovers in the latter minutes of the half to give Dallas a chance to cut it to single digits, only for a last-second turnover, which led to a Kings basket. Dallas trailed 68-56 at the half.

The third quarter was something special. The Mavericks cut the Kings lead down to three very quickly to start the half, only to get walloped on a huge Kings run. The game then teetered back and forth between single and double digits. Marvin Bagley went down with a head injury, which slowed the Dallas momentum. The Mavericks found themselves down 12 as the quarter ended, which was the same amount they were down when the second half began. Dallas trailed 100-88 with 12 minutes to go.

The Dallas Mavericks made things interesting, you have to give them that. The fourth quarter was a slow collapse by the Kings, a theme we’ve seen all season as Dallas shocks people simply by playing hard. The 12 point lead whittled down to 2 points with two minutes remaining, only for the Kings to wake up and close out the contest. Dallas falls, somehow, 130-121. A masterful tank.

That was a genuinely shocking game

Perhaps it’s me. Maybe I’m the problem. Maybe I don’t believe enough, in Jason Kidd, in this Dallas Mavericks team.

When I noticed this four game slate in mid-December, when the Dallas season was already over and no one knew it, I marked it down as a stretch which would cause the fandom to go NUTS. Four straight wins, even against the Grizzlies, who weren’t yet tanking either. The Kings were bad. They should be beatable every day of the week and twice on Sunday.

But no, not for our Dallas Mavericks. With PJ Washington and Daniel Gafford out, with Cooper Flagg out, this was a game Dallas wanted to lose institutionally. Don’t let the players hear that, of course. Kidd played Marshall 42 freaking minutes, and the dude battled his butt off. But Caleb Martin exists, and he’s one of the players on this team who probably shouldn’t be in the NBA at this point. He played a mere 20 minutes but was outscored 25 points while he was on the floor. That’s so hard to do!

But Dallas did it. And they lost.

Now, they’ll win some games they shouldn’t. They have too much veteran talent to actually TANK, like the Kings, Jazz, and other moribund franchies. But for now, enjoy how ridiculous a loss this was. Go Mavs.