Game thread: New York Knicks vs Dallas Mavericks 1/12/2021 7:30pm [Game #42]

The New York Knicks have managed to tread water in the Eastern Conference playoff race over the last month by succeeding against fellow sub-.500 teams.

On Wednesday night, the Knicks will get another chance to reach the break-even mark - this time by opposing a team that's recently left its sub-.500 days in the past.

When the Knicks face the surging Dallas Mavericks at home, in the first game between the teams this season, both will be coming off double-digit wins at home.

RJ Barrett scored 31 points Monday night as New York pulled away in a 111-96 win over the San Antonio Spurs. The Mavericks extended their winning streak to a season-long six games Sunday by beating the visiting Chicago Bulls 113-99.

The Knicks' win over the Spurs capped a stretch of nine straight games against sub-.500 teams dating back to Christmas Day. New York went 6-3 in the run to improve to 20-21 and move into a tie for 10th place in the Eastern Conference with the Boston Celtics.

The Knicks haven't been at .500 since improving to 12-12 following a 121-109 win over the Spurs on Dec. 7. New York has lost its last three games with a chance to get back to .500, most recently on Saturday, when the Celtics cruised to a 99-75 win at Boston.

"Look, there's going to be ups and downs throughout the course of the year," Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau said. "You've got to be mentally tough when you face adversity - everybody does. Probably the most important thing in life. Sometimes it goes our way, sometimes it doesn't. Just navigate through it all."

The Mavericks' six-game winning streak - their longest since a pair of six-game runs during the 2015-16 season - has lifted them over .500 at 22-18 and into fifth place in the Western Conference.

Dallas hasn't won at least seven straight games since an eight-game streak Feb. 2-Mar. 4, 2011, a season that ended with the franchise winning its lone NBA title. The also had 10- and 12-game winning streaks during that regular season.

It might be a bit early to start planning a parade route, but the Mavericks have looked like a legitimate playoff team by posting an average margin of victory of 15.7 points during the streak. They also defeated a pair of NBA Finals contenders in the Bulls and Golden State Warriors. Dallas ended Chicago's nine-game winning streak Sunday.

Mavericks superstar Luka Doncic fueled the win Sunday when he returned from a one-game absence due to an ankle injury and posted his third triple-double of the season (22 points, 14 rebounds, 14 assists) as the Mavericks held an opponent under 100 points for the fifth time in the winning streak.

"It feels amazing," Doncic said. "I think the whole team is playing together and we are playing great defense."

The Mavericks played Sunday with assistant coach Sean Sweeney serving as head coach in place of Jason Kidd, who has missed the last two games while in the NBA's health and safety protocol.

Dallas' Kristaps Porzingis (COVID-19 protocol) and Willie Cauley-Stein (personal reasons) are not available Wednesday.

Game preview courtesy of:
--Field Level Media

(STATS / cbssports.com)

Wsup Rady .. Thanks for the Game-Thread .. We are so close, yet so far.
Tonight, the Knicks are going-up against a team that has way to many ex-Knicks players on their team, the Dallas Mavs are in MSG tonight on a 6 game winning streak.
How will the ex-Knicks players perform against the Knicks tonight?
Will Frank get playing-time to score a career high 30 pts tonight, or will Tim Hardaway have a season high on the Knicks tonight ???
Mavs coach Jason Kidd as a NBA player leaving Dallas in 2012. when he became a FA, to sign on to the Knicks team for two years to help the Knicks three divided star players, Amare, Melo, and LinSanity come together to beat the Miami Heats Big-3. Dallas Mavs owner Cuban were so upset and mad at Jason Kidd's leaving, he cussed out Jason Kidd throughout the season. LOL

Yes! HOF Jason Kidd gave Knicks owner & management the chance to hire him as a player, then a coach. After one season with the Knicks Jason Kidd retired as a player, and became the head coach of the Nets.

Doncic is an elite talent. KP obviously can bring a lot to the table. But, they both miss so many games, not sure how Dallas is going to get anywhere with them.

As much as i liked Randle's 2 pt performance in the last game holding the lead the entire 2nd half .. Tonight, against the Mavs it look like Randle could score a quick 50 pts on inside baskets .. No WCS, no KP.

56-45 Knicks at the half. 4 Knicks starters in double figures. Big differential in DAL 3 PT shooting 17% vs Knicks 44%. I'd let Doncic shoot all the 3s he wants just keep him out of the lane with that size mismatch against our guys.

Where is Nits, is he out in the protocol? Grimes way better than Nits, we won't miss him.

MRob has stretches where he seems just dominant at the rim. 10 points and 8 rebounds in 15 minutes so far. We?re crazy if we don?t extend him. Only 23-years-old.

tiger0330 said:

Where is Nits, is he out in the protocol? Grimes way better than Nits, we won't miss him.

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Ntilikina seems like he did well with Doncic out, but without injuries to open the door for him, doesn?t seem like he is an important part of their rotation.

Big 3rd quarter for the Knicks. 12 for 18 from the floor in the quarter. Dallas not showing much defensively. Lead is 18 heading into the 4th.

Noel with back to back finishes at the rim after the passer drew the double team, then he draws a charge from Doncic, and he finishes the stretch with a steal from behind on Doncic that leads to an RJ reverse dunk.

Underrated boost for us to get Noel back.

Mavs with no answer for MRob under the hoop.

MRob now with 19 points, 9 boards, and 2 blocks. He is 9 for 10 from the floor because he is getting basically nothing but point blank dunks.

MitchRob! MitchRob! MitchRob .. 9-10 FG shooting for 19 pts, 4 min remain in game

Knicks are dominating led by the starting unit. Lead is 24 with 1 minute to go.

RJ with 32 on 13 for 22 shooting.
Randle with 17 points, 12 boards, and 8 assists.
Huge game for MRob.
Nice efforts from Burks and Fournier.

Ntilikina gets into the game for the last minute of garbage time for Dallas.

Knicks win by 23. 5th straight win at home.

We?re back to 0.500. Fresh start with 40 games to go.

htr10 said:

Ntilikina seems like he did well with Doncic out, but without injuries to open the door for him, doesn?t seem like he is an important part of their rotation.

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Mavs coach Jason Kidd short 8 man rotation needed Frank tonight.
Thibs 9 man rotation was to BIG for the Mavs .. Knicks 54 rbds to Mavs 39
However, after tonight win reaching .500, Thibs better start running a 10 Man rotation to stay above .500 in the midseason.

Come on RJ! Pass ball more to Obi! You a bum.

Is that 3 straight thirty point games for RJ? About this time last year, when I expected a collapse? they went off and running

Mavs 5th in WC and won 6 straight. This was a goooood win

7-3 last 10?

They mentioned something on the ESPN broadcast that mrob was rounding into shape after his injuries, I had another take that the added weight had slowed him down. Lot of guys put on muscle and weight in the off season and their games don't get better. Hoping the case for mrob is its the injuries and not the weight.

haha just saw that wide open dunk Obi flubbed. Better practice before the AS game dunk contest.

MSN Sports

RJ Barrett hit 13-of-22 shots and four 3-pointers for 32 points, seven rebounds and two assists in 41 minutes of Wednesday's blowout win over the Mavs.
RJB became the youngest Knick in history to score 30 points in back-to-back games after he had 31 points on 12-of-20 shooting on Monday. He's scored at least 31 points in three of his last five games and might be putting it all together before our eyes. He'll still have the occasional poor shooting night and doesn't steal or block enough for our liking, but his confidence is growing and he could be primed for a second-half breakout. He looked aggressive and fantastic tonight.