SACRAMENTO, Calif. — With his team facing a 15-point halftime deficit on the road against one of the West’s worst teams, Dallas Mavericks coach Jason Kidd tried a tactic he ditched in early November.

Kidd swapped Naji Marshall into the starting lineup in Ryan Nembhard’s place. That lineup change effectively made Cooper Flagg the Mavericks’ point guard. Flagg started the first seven games of the season for the Mavericks at the position — an experiment that didn’t go well.

On Saturday, Flagg looked much more comfortable playing point guard compared to his early-season stint at the position, but the 21 points he scored in the second half were not enough to prevent the Mavericks from losing to the Sacramento Kings 113-107 at Golden 1 Center.

“I feel confident,” Flagg said. “I had a really bad start to the game. Just continued to stay aggressive. Stayed involved. Got hot. We are always going to play to the hot hand, no matter who it is. Just have to be more assertive and aggressive at the start. Can’t be so lackadaisical.”

At halftime, Flagg had two points on 0-of-4 shooting. He scored his first basket at the 11:05 mark in the third quarter on a 3-pointer from the top of the arc. His transition layup with 6:06 remaining in the frame cut Sacramento’s lead to three. That was as close as Dallas got. On Sacramento’s next possession, Russell Westbrook drilled a 3. Then, Kings wing Keon Ellis picked off Max Christie’s bad pass and added another 3, which got Sacramento’s lead back up to nine.

“Once we had to sub, it went back up to 18,” Kidd said. “Just understanding the change — we talked about it at halftime — it gave us an opportunity to get us back in the game.”

The Mavericks were playing their 17th game of the season without Anthony Davis, who suffered a right adductor strain in the team’s Christmas Day loss to the Golden State Warriors. Davis was listed as questionable before being ruled out about two hours before tipoff.

“Hopefully, it’s not long,” Kidd said. “Hopefully, he’s feeling better. We’ll see here in the next couple days how long he’ll be out.”

The Mavericks have been competitive when Davis has played this season, posting an 8-8 record with him in the lineup. When Davis has been out, Dallas has performed like a team bound for the lottery. Saturday’s loss in Sacramento dropped Dallas to 4-13 this year when Davis doesn’t play.

“Obviously, missing a guy of that magnitude is tough,” said Mavericks forward P.J. Washington, who had 17 points and four blocks. “He’s so dominant on both ends of the floor. I think for us it’s just being able to play with more pace and get the ball out. Everybody touch it. Everybody get downhill. And take 3s and be more confident shooting it. On the defensive end, the biggest thing is rebounding.”