SPENCER DINWIDDIE had 21 points off the bench, Naji Marshall had a game-high 24 and the Dallas Mavericks led almost the entire way in a dominating 129-114 win over the visiting New York Knicks on Wednesday night.
Dallas played without All-Star Luka Doncic for the fourth straight game while he recovers from a sprained wrist. The Mavericks have won three of those four.
Jalen Brunson had a game-high 37 points for the Knicks facing his old team. Karl-Anthony Towns had 25 points and 14 rebounds for New York. It was the Mavericks’ fifth straight win over the Knicks.
The Mavericks seized control of the contest early as the Knicks were cold as ice. New York was 3-for-18 from the floor to start the game and were 0-for-8 from 3-point range in the first quarter. Irving had five first-quarter points as the Mavs led 28-15.
Playing without Doncic and sharpshooter Klay Thompson, the Mavericks spread the ball around and consistently found gaps in the Knicks defense. A trey by Marshall midway through the second quarter pushed the lead to 46-22, the biggest advantage of the first half.
Dallas led 60-38 at the break.
New York would get as close as 12 with 2:33 left in the game after Brunson scored six in a row, but the Mavericks would close things out with Irving feeding Dereck Lively II on a dunk and then Irving feeding Marshall on a fast break to push the lead back to 16 to seal it.
New York never led after the first four minutes. The Knicks shot 46.5% for the game, while the Mavericks shot 56.5%.
A game after scoring a career-high 40 in a win over the Nuggets Monday night, Knicks forward OG Anunoby had eight points on 3-for-15 shooting. — Reuters
