DALLAS, TEXAS — The Dallas Mavericks (11-8) hosted the New York Knicks (10-8), winning 129-114 the night before Thanksgiving.
In their fourth game in six days, the Mavericks are now 3-1.
Both teams came into this one having won five of their last six games, Dallas coming home briefly to play one of the few teams in the Eastern Conference with a winning record.
New York scored first, but Dallas quickly took the lead and maintained it through the rest of the game. The Mavericks led by as many as 24 points, and had six players score in double digits. Naji Marshall led all of Dallas’ scorers with 24 points, followed by Kyrie Irving’s 23 points, Spencer Dinwiddie and Quentin Grimes with 21 each, and Dereck Lively II with 12. P.J. Washington had his fourth-consecutive double-double, scoring 19 points and having 10 rebounds. Mavericks head coach Jason Kidd said “he should have had a triple-double,” but Washington only had seven assists.
There was no Luka Dončić for Dallas, who missed his fourth consecutive game with a right wrist sprain, and Klay Thompson, who was questionable, did not see the court.
The Knicks have one of the best offenses in the NBA this season, shooting 50.4% as a team, which is good for second in the league, and hold opponents to a 47.1 field goal percentage. However, New York allowed Dallas to shoot 56.5% in this one.
In the Knicks’ last time out, a 145-118 win at the Denver Nuggets, OG Anunoby scored a career-best 40 points—the Mavericks kept him to just eight points.
It was not just fun for the Mavericks to beat a former teammate in Jalen Brunson, an all-star point guard who left Dallas after the 2022 run to the Western Conference finals and had 37 points in the night’s loss, but also to win in front of six-time Super Bowl champion, Tom Brady.
This was a quick stop back in the American Airlines Center for Dallas before the Mavericks head back out on the road to Utah on Saturday and Portland on Sunday. Tip-off on Saturday is at 8:30 p.m.
