Knicks deliver knockout blow, end Mavs 13-game streak
By Dave Ivey, for NBA.com
Posted Sunday March 14, 2010 12:03AM
DALLAS (NBA.com exclusive) — About 20 miles from the site of Saturday night’s title fight between welterweights Manny Pacquiao and Joshua Clottey, the Knicks delivered a surprising knockout punch to stop the Mavericks’ 13-game winning streak in a 128-94 rout.
By any measure, New York was a considerable underdog entering the ring, if not a total tomato can. The Knicks had lost nine straight meetings in Dallas dating back to 1999, and 15 of the last 16 overall. The Mavericks had whipped them by 50 points just 48 days earlier at Madison Square Garden. New York had dropped 10 of its last 11 road games and had only one road win against a Western Conference foe all season. Red-hot Dallas had not lost since Feb. 16 and hadn’t lost on its own floor since Feb. 5.
New York still had a puncher’s chance, however, and did major damage with a barrage of 3-point blows. The Knicks knocked down 16-of-30 shots from 3-point range and shot 56 percent from the field (50-for-89). They exploited openings in a shaky Dallas defense and also took advantage of the Mavericks’ sloppy play, scoring 19 points off 15 turnovers.
Six players scored in double figures for the Knicks, including four with at least 20. Bill Walker had a season-high 23 points off the bench and Wilson Chandler scored 22. Rookie Toney Douglas, making just his third start and first since Nov. 18, added 21 on 8-for-10 shooting (4-for-4 3-pointers) with eight assists. David Lee collected his 44th double-double with 15 points, 14 boards and seven assists.
“We had to be on our toes here because we didn’t want to get beat by 50 points again,” said Lee, referring to the 128-78 drubbing on Jan. 24 that was both the most lopsided win in Mavericks history and the worst home loss ever for New York. “The way Dallas has been playing, if we didn’t bring our best effort that was going to happen again. That was motivation for us to come in and play our best.”
Al Harrington, who added 20 points, eight rebounds and two blocks off the bench, suggested that Dallas may have taken the Knicks too lightly.
“Revenge is sweet sometimes,” Harrington said. “That’s a really good team over there, but we just caught them at the right time. They were ripe for the picking. When you’ve had that much success and you know the Knicks are coming in and you feel you can score 150 points on them in your sleep — that team didn’t show up today. I guess we caught them by surprise.”
The Mavericks trailed by as many as 37 points in their second-worst loss of the season. They lost 131-96 to the Lakers on the road on Jan. 3. Dallas held its last lead at 20-19 with 3:14 left in the first quarter. The Mavericks’ 13-game streak had matched the longest in the NBA this season and was their best since a franchise-record 17-game run in 2006-07. They had won eight straight at home.
Dirk Nowitzki paced six Mavericks in double figures with 20 points and 12 rebounds, his 15th double-double. Jason Kidd scored 15 points and was 4-for-7 from 3-point range, but the rest of the team was a combined 3-for-14. J.J. Barea returned after missing one game with a sprained left ankle and scored 14 off the bench. Shawn Marion also had 14.
New York controlled the action from the opening bell and had Dallas on the ropes early, leading by 10 at halftime. But the Mavericks weren’t ready to throw in the towel. They have been the master of the comeback all season, posting a league-high 17 wins in games where they trailed by 10-plus points, plus a league-leading 18 wins when trailing at the break — including six escapes during the winning streak.
Not this time. New York unleashed a third-quarter pummeling that would have prompted most referees to step in and stop the fight. The Knicks outscored the Mavs 33-18 in the third quarter, shooting 68 percent (13-for-19). Tracy McGrady scored all 11 of his points in the decisive period. Dallas shot just 8-for-22 in the quarter.
“You especially don’t want (the streak) to come to an end like this, but at the same time it was a great run,” Marion said. “It seemed like everything we did out there wouldn’t go right. They hit everything. They had everything going. They were attacking the basket early, and once we cut them off from that, they started hitting shots from outside.”
Seven different Knicks made at least one 3-pointer, including five by Walker.
“I think this kind of night defines, to a certain degree, the adage about on any given night, anything can happen,” Mavericks head coach Rick Carlisle said. “I didn’t sense overconfidence or being full of ourselves, but over a 24-day period when you don’t lose a game, you’re going to have teams gunning for you and you’re going to have teams showing up that are going to get hot. If you don’t have answers, it’s going to be ugly. Tonight, it was ugly.”
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