The Dallas Mavericks had one job on Wednesday night to keep their season alive: block out all of the noise and get a tough road win against the Sacramento Kings. The Mavericks did just that on Wednesday night, blowing out the Kings 120-106 in the NBA Play-In Tournament.

Coming into the game, the vibes around the Mavericks were bad. Nico Harrison held a cryptic, secretive media availability on Tuesday before the play-in where he somehow continued to double down on the Luka Doncic trade. The Mavs also were struggling to get wins on the court, making them the clear underdog coming into this game.

Anthony Davis and Klay Thompson had other ideas. While Davis had a sluggish first half shooting from the field, Thompson got hot early and made his mark during a huge second quarter for the Mavericks.

The Mavs outscored the Kings 44-19 in the second quarter and Thompson contributed to that in a big way with 16 points on 5-for-5 shooting and 4-for-4 from downtown in the second frame. That helped the Mavericks open up a 71-48 lead at halftime, and fans were going crazy over Thompson's performance.

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The Mavericks had no trouble coasting through the second half, as the Kings were never able to cut the deficit to single digits even with the Kings playing in front of their home crowd.

While Thompson wasn't quite as effective after halftime, he was still efficient and Davis picked up the slack with big plays on both ends of the court.

In the end, Thompson finished with 23 points on 8-for-11 shooting and 5-for-7 from 3-point range. Davis shot just 9-for-23 from the floor but finished with 27 points and nine rebounds.

This one was extra sweet for Thompson after last season, when he was shut out in an o-for-10 nightmare in Sacramento during the play-in as a member of the Golden State Warriors.

After this win, the Mavericks advance to take on the Memphis Grizzlies on Friday night in a win or go home contest. The winner will advance to the playoffs and will take on the top-seeded Oklahoma City Thunder in the first round, while the loser will get a head start on the offseason. If the Mavericks want to avoid the latter, they will need another excellent performance from Thompson in Memphis.