Klay Thompson has scorching-hot second quarter in Mavericks' dominant play-in win

Thompson caught fire in his Dallas Mavericks' play-in game against the Sacramento Kings when he made four three-pointers in the second quarter, all in the span of three minutes. In seven Mavericks possessions, Thompson hit triples in four of them, then made two free throws on the eighth. It was part of a stretch where the Mavericks scored on 11 straight possessions, going from a 29-29 tie to a 57-45 lead.

Dallas made eight three-pointers in the quarter, as many as the Kings made for the entire second half. It wasn't just Thompson.

Brandon Williams, who started the season as a two-way player, made back-to-back threes just before Thompson's explosion.

Anthony Davis shot 28.2 percent from three-point range this season, but he also hit back-to-back threes to close the scoring in the Mavericks' 44-point second quarter.

But it was Thompson who ignited the Mavericks offense on their way to a 23-point halftime lead. In his first season after leaving the Golden State Warriors, he ended up on another 10th-place team after a disastrous season for the Mavericks. Wednesday in the first half, Thompson looked like the player who tormented the Kings for years, not the guy who couldn't make a shot last April.

Like in 2015, when Thompson torched the Kings for 37 points in a single quarter.

Thompson's older, but he can still get extremely hot when it counts — especially against the Kings. Sacramento may have won last year's play-in, but Thompson is 31-11 against the Kings for his career, including a series win in 2023. Thanks to his big second quarter, he's 1-1 against them in play-in games.

The Mavs went on to win 120-106. Thompson had 23 points on 8-of-11 from the field and 5-of-7 from three. Davis racked up 27 points on 9-of-23 from the field and 3-of-6 from beyond the arc.