Klay Thompson says he "exorcised his demons" after putting last season's Play-In Tournament dud behind him to help the Dallas Mavericks advance on Wednesday.

Dallas enjoyed a dominant second quarter as they secured a 120-106 win over the Sacramento Kings to set up a meeting with the Memphis Grizzlies.

Thompson scored 16 of his 23 points in that second quarter, with 8-of-11 shooting, including 5-of-7 from 3-point range, and had a plus/minus of +30 in the first half, which is his best plus/minus in any half this season.

It was a stark contrast to his performance last year. It was one year to the day when Thompson missed all 10 shots in his final game for the Golden State Warriors in a play-in loss, also in Sacramento.

"It did feel good to exorcise those demons in here. Man!" Thompson said during his on-court postgame interview on ESPN's SportsCenter.

MAVS WIN!!!@Chime // #MFFL pic.twitter.com/EFBOjDScAD

— Dallas Mavericks (@dallasmavs) April 17, 2025

He had endured a scoreless first quarter, but came to life along with Dallas, who scored 44 points in that period to cement their control in the game.

"I wasn't going to define myself off one bad shooting night," said Thompson. "I mean, I've had some of the greatest shooting nights in the history of the game.

"So even someone in my caliber can go 0-for. ... I try to not even think about that, but at times you do because you're human. But you just keep going out there and do what you love."

The Kings were outscored 44-19 in the second quarter by the Mavericks. It is the worst point differential in a quarter this season for Sacramento. The previous worst was February 1 against the Oklahoma City Thunder when they were outscored 46-24 in the second quarter.