Dallas Mavericks defeat New York Knicks 95 – 85; Dirk Nowitzki leads the way – NBA Recap
The Dallas Mavericks secured a comfortable 95 – 85 win over the New York Knicks at the American Airlines Center on Tuesday with talismanic forward Dirk Nowitzki on song. The Mavericks cruised through in the second half to net the important win over a start studded Knicks side.
Dirk hasn’t had a perfect NBA season so far due to various reasons but a sharp rise in fortunes for the forward has been witnessed recently. He carried on his good form into this game and led all scorers with 28 points.
Rodrigue Beaubois was also prolific for the Mavericks, coming off the bench to score 18 points while Jason Kidd had 15 and 6 assists.
The Knicks were led by Amar’e Stoudemire, who scored a team high 26 points and had 7 rebounds. Sensational point guard Jeremy Lin managed only 14 but also had 7 assists. The biggest disappointment on the night for New York was the uninspiring play of star Carmelo Anthony, who managed only 6 points connecting on just 2-of-12 from the field.
After an even start to the game, Dallas started to pull away, going up 11 – 6 close to the half way mark in the first quarter. Later, a 7 – 0 burst took them to 20 – 11 and they continued to pinch away at the Knicks, finishing ahead at 27 – 15.
The Mavericks had their little bursts in the second quarter as well, but the Knicks look better prepared to deal with them. In fact, New York hung in there, using a 6 – 0 run to claw down the lead, 46 – 38, and ending with a flurry to reduce the deficit further, 50 – 44 at halftime.
Any hopes the Knicks might have had for a comeback however were washed away right at the start of the third period. The Mavericks came out with all guns blazing after the interval, using a 10 – 2 rally to broaden the gap, 60 – 46.
The Mavericks run knocked the wind out of New York, and the Knicks were unable to string together a decisive run for the rest of the segment. It ended 77 – 63 to Dallas.
The final 12 minutes though had more twists left to unfold. The Knicks blasted away from the start, using a 15 – 0 sprint to completely turn the game on its head, and take the lead 78 – 77. Dallas though countered with a brutal 14 – 0 run, taking a decisive 91 – 78 lead of their own.
The Knicks didn’t have anything left in the tank afterwards, and the game petered out to a 95 – 85 end.
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