Luka Doncic tallied 39 points, 11 rebounds and eight assists as the visiting Dallas Mavericks held off a late charge to beat the short-handed New York Knicks 122-108 on Thursday.
Tim Hardaway Jr. scored 19 points for Dallas, which led wire to wire and won its third straight. Derrick Jones Jr. added 18 points, Kyrie Irving had 16, and Josh Green chipped in 15.
Donte DiVincenzo made seven 3-pointers and led New York with 36 points. The Knicks were down to seven active players after center Isaiah Hartenstein departed late in the second quarter with a sore left Achilles.
Hart had 23 points, 12 assists and 10 rebounds for New York, which lost for just the second time in 12 games. Miles McBride scored 21 points, Precious Achiuwa added 13 points and 16 rebounds, and Hartenstein had 10 points.
Dallas led by 20 late in the third quarter before the Knicks pulled within 111-103 with 3:37 remaining in the contest.
The Mavericks squashed the comeback effort and moved ahead 121-105 with 1:38 remaining as Hardaway and Doncic hit back-to-back 3-pointers.
The depleted Knicks were without injured starters Jalen Brunson (right ankle sprain), Julius Randle (dislocated shoulder) and OG Anunoby (elbow surgery). New York was also without four players traded to the Detroit Pistons for Bojan Bogdanovic and Alec Burks earlier in the day.
Dallas led by six at the end of the opening period and moved ahead 34-24 on Hardaway’s 3-pointer early in the second quarter. The Mavericks shot 50 percent in the first half and held a 59-48 advantage at intermission.
DiVincenzo made four 3-pointers and scored 16 points in the first half to lead all scorers. Doncic had 12 points and eight assists for Dallas.
Doncic scored 11 points during an 18-6 run to extend the Mavericks’ lead to 84-64 late in the third quarter. Dallas took a 16-point lead into the final period.
Dallas won its fourth straight meeting against New York while shooting 52 percent overall and 18 of 42 (43 percent) from 3-point range.
New York connected on 44 percent of its shots, including 14 of 37 (38 percent) from beyond the arc.
–Field Level Media