Kings coach gets first career win against short-handed Mavs

The longtime Sacramento Kings shooting guard got his first win as the team's interim head coach Monday with a 110-100 win over the Dallas Mavericks. De'Aaron Fox had 33 points, Domantas Sabonis had 17 points and 16 rebounds and the Kings snapped a six-game losing streak.

It helped that the Mavericks were missing five players, including their three leading scorers in Luka Doncic, Kyrie Irving and Klay Thompson. Doncic is out for weeks with a calf strain, Irving has a shoulder injury, Thompson was sick and center Dereck Lively II has a sore hip. Dallas also played without Naji Marshall, serving a four-game suspension for his Christmas Day fight with Jusuf Nurkic.

Christie was hired to replace Mike Brown, who was fired suddenly Friday, 18 months after he won Coach of the Year for the 2022-23 season. He'd won two games in 2022 while filling in for Brown during an illness, but those went on Brown's record, not Christie's. It's Christie's fourth year as a Kings coach after spending most of five seasons in Sacramento as a player.

How did he Christie coach differently than Brown? He used Trey Lyles more as a backup center, and was rewarded with 14 points and a +31 in his 22 minutes. Christie also got improved defense, holding the high-scoring Mavericks to 40 points in the second half, though it should be concerning that the team gave up 19 first-quarter points to P.J. Washington and 11 to Spencer Dinwiddie.

Christie's first win was fairly easy. His second one will be more of a challenge, though, as the Kings face a tough stretch. Their next five games are against the Sixers, Grizzlies, Warriors, Heat and Celtics.