The Dallas Mavericks lost at home to the New York Knicks. In the 117: 109 away win of the New Yorkers, Julius Randle is the outstanding player.
Dallas Mavericks (30-25) – New York Knicks (30-27) 109:117 (BOXSCORE)
Randle dominated the Mavs with 44 points (16/29 FG, 6/11 threesome), 10 rebounds and 7 assists, it was the second time this season that he exceeded 40. The last kink that could fabricate a 40-10-5 statline in one game was Bernard King in 1985.
He got support from RJ Barrett (24, 9/18, 8 rebounds) and Derrick Rose, who scored 15 points from the bench. Nerlens Noel (6, 10 rebounds, 3 blocks) showed an outstanding performance on the defensive.
This is where the Mavs bit their teeth over long stretches. Luka Doncic dominated as playmaker and set his personal career best (19 assists), but did not come to his own conclusion as usual (19 points, 7/16 FG), even if there were a few deep threesomes in the final minutes. Top scorer was Kristaps Porzingis with 23 points (plus 12 rebounds), Tim Hardaway Jr. scored all of his 16 points before the break.
Maxi Kleber started with 6 counters (2/5 FG) and 2 blocks. Dallas was lagging behind for almost the entire game and had no funds for a comeback in the closing stages. This was also due to the fact that the Knicks acted unusually efficiently on the offensive in addition to the good defense. Both from the field (44/86 FG) and from the triple line (14/28), the guests hit at least 50 percent. With the Mavs it was only 44 and 33.3 percent, respectively.
Julius Randle dominated from the start
The Mavs had their usual lineup available, but in the first quarter the guests were clearly the better team. Dallas-born Randle dominated the first quarter with 15 points (6/8) and led his team to a round in which an impressive 70 percent of the throws fell into it. The Mavs (41.7) couldn’t keep up, especially Porzingis (1/6) started the game very weakly. As a result, the Knicks quickly moved away a little, 34:25 at the quarter break.
Subsequently, the Mavs succeeded somewhat better in restricting the circles of the Knicks, who no longer acted as strongly in the second quarter, especially downtown. Porzingis found a little better in the game, while Doncic concentrated on playmaking (9 assists at break). The top scorer for Dallas was Hardaway, who was already at 16 points at the break; with two free throws he even equalized the game at 52:52 for the first time. Before the break whistle, Barrett then added a threesome, 56:52 Knicks.
A similar picture emerged in the third quarter. Doncic was increasingly active as a scorer, on the other hand, however, the Mavs never got the outstanding Randle under control, even if Doncic tried it himself in phases. The 26-year-old hit three threes in this section alone, the last action was a remarkable stepback triple by Randle to 83:79 from the Knicks’ point of view.
Nerlens Noel with sensational block
With 8 points at the beginning of the final quarter, Barrett was suddenly on the trigger. After Frank Ntilikina also sank a three, New York led after less than three minutes with 12. Dallas fought, but was kept at a distance – so also 3:57 to go when Dorian Finney-Smith was sensationally blocked by Nerlens Noel while trying to dunk and the gap remained at 8 points.
Just two minutes before the end, Randle hit another difficult fadeaway from the middle distance, the lead was 10, then Porzingis shortened again with And-1. Barrett responded promptly with a jumper – and it didn’t get any tighter.
The Mavs have now lost three out of four games after their interim high, making sixth place in the West increasingly likely. New York, on the other hand, is still sixth in the Eastern Conference after five wins in a row.
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