Two teams still hoping to jumpstart their seasons hook up Wednesday night when the Dallas Mavericks and Sacramento Kings face off at American Airlines Center.Though the season is only about a quarter old, the Mavericks (4-16) and Kings (7-13) appear headed to the lottery. Missing the playoffs is nothing new for Sacramento, which is working on a decade-long postseason drought.The Kings had high expectations. Instead, this DeMarcus Cousins-led squad has dropped three games in row and eight of the last 11. Sacramento, 11th in the Western Conference, ends a five-game road trip in Dallas.The Kings lost 106-98 at New York on Sunday. Sacramento battled back from a 21-point deficit to make it a game in the fourth quarter before running out of gas.I think well be fine, Darren Collison told the Sacramento Bee. Weve just got to figure out how to compete at a higher level. Not from a physical side, but a mental side, and try to limit our mistakes mentally.Cousins is off to a great start, averaging a career-high 29.1 points and 10.5 rebounds. The seven-year pro is third in the NBA in scoring and 11th in rebounding.Closing out games is point of contention for the All-NBA center.Most guys, adrenaline gets going in those last couple of minutes, Cousins told the Bee. Youre going to find out who has the most heart in those last situations, and (Sunday) it was them. I dont think theres any one thing you can do or talk it over. Its who wants it the most in those last couple minutes.Dallas has failed to qualify for the playoffs only once since 2001. Unless something dramatic happens with this injury-ravaged club, this season will be about ping-pong ball positioning.The Mavericks are without Dirk Nowitzki, Andrew Bogut and J.J. Barea. Bogut injured his right knee in Mondays 109-101 loss to Charlotte. Seth Curry (knee) is making progress, but is officially listed as questionable against the Kings.Dallas led for much of the second half before faltering down the stretch. The Hornets outscored the Mavs 34-23 in the fourth quarter to pull away.Two days after their best performance of the season in a 107-82 rout of Chicago, the Mavs fell flat with the game on the line. Dallas coach Rick Carlisle pinned the collapse on a lack of effort late.Why we fell into that, Im not sure, he said. Maybe we were resting on the laurels of our one-game winning streak.Charlotte outrebounded the Mavericks 55-35. Losing Bogut in the first quarter didnt help, but Carlisle didnt use losing his starting center as an excuse.The thing thats most disappointing is the rebounding numbers, he said. After really going toe-to-toe with Chicago and playing even on the boards, we got wiped out (Monday) by 20, which shouldnt happen. That points to effort.Dallas won two of its previous four games before Monday, and was competitive in the other two. That qualified as progress in a campaign thats off to the worst start since Mark Cuban bought the team in 2000.Losing their edge in the fourth quarter against Charlotte -- the Mavs were up 11 in the third -- didnt sit well in the locker room.We just went cold for whatever reason and we just cant do that, Wesley Matthews sad. We have to be crazed dogs from the tip to the final buzzer and that is how we have to play. That is how we have been playing. We have been that way for the last, however many games, we showed that identity.The Mavericks won 22 of the last 27 regular-season meetings against Sacramento, but the Kings claimed three of the four games last season. Ricky Vaughn Indians Jersey .Y. -- Vancouver Canucks goaltender Roberto Luongo had little trouble picking up his first shutout of the season against a Buffalo Sabres team thats having trouble scoring goals. 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Phil Maton Indians Jersey . - The Oakland Raiders re-signed offensive lineman Khalif Barnes on Friday.England forward George Kruis says improvement is key for England as they look ahead to a three-Test tour of Australia. Kruis was speaking ahead of the Old Mutual Wealth Cup match between England and Wales on 29 May, live on Sky Sports. The two sides will do battle for the first time since England avenged their World Cup loss with a 25-21 win at Twickenham during the Six Nations, and Kruis is relishing the prospect of facing his countrys old rivals as they aim to build on their Grand Slam heroics. Definitely upped the stakes with a game against Wales, said Kruis. Well be looking to take that momentum we had from the back of the Six Nations straight into that. Kruis scored the opening try in Englands 15-6 win over Scotland in February You look at how we left the Six Nations out in France, everyone was pretty happy that we completed that job but its been drilled into us that we know were not our finished product.Were far from world class at the moment, weve got a long way to go and were looking forward to getting out there on the field. England and Saracens second rowers Kruis and Maro Itoje with the RBS Six Nations Triple Crown trophy The first thing we wanted was to be improving each week, and come the end of the Six Nations we were definitely improving, and well just take that forward.Eddie Jones will be in the Sky Sports News studios to talk to us about the Wales game and the subsequent tour of Australia, and Kruis believes the coach will hold nothing back when talking about the players. No excuses for ruthless England Phil Edwards explains why he is confident ahead of Englands three-Test series against Australia Hes given us gentle reminders of what we need to work on, how we need to keep improving. At the end of the day thats all weve got to do, keep improving.Were a young squad, we all know were not the finished product.He knows were a young, eager group. Were willing to learn, weve still got that hunger and that passion within us, I think hhe plays on that a bit.dddddddddddd. Eddie Jones talks about a number of subjects, including the abrasive Michael Cheika Hes a good coach and hes got a good coaching staff behind him, so its an interesting prospect for us.He plays his mind games, Kruis added with a smile.Before Kruis puts on the England jersey he has club commitments with Saracens, who are flying high. They will finish the regular Premiership season as top seeds, earning them a home semi-final, and have a Champions Cup final against Racing 92 to look forward to. Kruis points to the depth of the squad as the main contributor to the strong season.When we went to the Six Nations, the guys did a hell of a job of putting up a front and keeping us in the top four, and now a lot of the players are back and were just massively excited to play these big games.Weve put some much into it as a squad, as coaches and backroom staff; its a whole team approach and hopefully we can pay that off in the next couple of weeks.Youve got to work [Racing 92] out first, there will definitely be a big week of preparation coming into it. We pride ourselves on training well and playing well - there will be a big sense of that.Its a proper squad effort, its not just the 15 out there on the field. The amount of players weve used this whole season has been incredible, and everyones played a part.Its been a fantastic season for us in that sense. Also See: Ella to help England Hartley set for comeback PRO12 permutations Rugby union video ' ' '