By Eurohoops Team/ info@eurohoops.net
Brushing off a sluggish start and the paired 15-point deficit, the Dallas Mavericks ended up with a wide-margin win, 121-100, against the New York Knicks in the Madison Square Garden Saturday.
Opening the NBA Saturdays schedule, Luka Doncic scored 19 points in the game-changing third quarter. Going into the break trailing 59-52, the players guided by Jason Kidd marched to a comfortable lead by outscoring the Knicks, 41-15, in the third quarter. Additional distance in the fourth quarter entered nearly all bench players down the stretch, for both sides.
Struggling to make shots in the first half, the Slovenian superstar bounced back to finish with 30 points behind 11/21 field goals. Beyond scoring, he tallied eight rebounds, seven assists, three blocks, and one steal in 29 minutes. Tim Hardaway Jr. matched his season-high 28 points, highlighted by connecting five triples in a 25-6 run to end the third quarter.
The sixth player, German Maxi Kleber went for 13 points, three rebounds, and one assist over 23 minutes. Latvian Davis Bertans misfired three shots from beyond the arc in eight minutes and French Frank Ntilikina pulled down one rebound in five minutes.
European action on the losing end, German Isaiah Hartenstein logging two points, four rebounds, and two steals in 13 minutes. Among the late entries, Ukrainian Sviatoslav Mykhailiuk tucked in a three-pointer and got one rebound in seven minutes. But French Evan Fournier was the lone available player staying on the bench.
Securing the second win in ten away games of the 2022-23 NBA Regular Season, the Mavs evened their record to 11-11. The Knicks fell to 10-13.
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