NEW YORK – A three-point barrage in the second half enabled the Dallas Mavericks to pull away from the New York
Knicks and win Saturday’s game, 121-100, at Madison Square Garden.
In short, it was like a video game broke out at MSG, and it was the Mavs who were at the controls of a game that got completely out of hand in the third quarter.
By halftime, the Mavs were just 9-of-30 from three-point territory, but they exploded and converted 15-of-31 shots from downtown in the second half. Even Knicks forward Julius Randle was overly impressed with the efficiency the Mavs were draining three-pointers in the second half of a game that squared their record at 11-11.
“They got hot from three,” said Randle, who is a native of Plano. “I don’t know if that was an adjustment.
“I don’t know if they got a lot of threes off in the first half and they just didn’t make them or what. But I know they got hot from three, for sure.”
Overall, the Mavs, who only attempted 39 two-point field goals against the Knicks, were 24-of-61 from downtown. That ties for the fourth-most three-pointers attempted in a game in NBA history. The top three spots for three-pointers attempted in a game – 70, 68 and 63 – are all held by the Houston Rockets, who also has attempted 61 treys in a game.
In addition, the 24 made three-pointers are the third-most by a visiting team in the history of Madison Square Garden. Boston fired in 27 three-pointers earlier this season on Nov. 5 on the Knicks’ court, and Milwaukee converted 26 shots from downtown at MSG on Nov. 10, 
2021.
Tim Hardaway Jr. was 8-of-13 from three-point range for the Mavs, and afterwards said: “Sixty-one three-pointers with a win, I’ll take it.”
Here are the takeaways from the 21-point win over the Knicks.
DONCIC AND HARDWAY OUTSCORED KNICKS: A rare feat occurred Saturday when both Luka Doncic and Tim Hardaway amazingly outscored the Knicks in the third quarter individually by themselves. The Knicks were held to just 15 points in the third quarter. In that quarter, Doncic scored 19 points and Hardaway tossed in 17 points. Overall, Doncic was 11-of-21 from the field and 4-of-9 from three-point land and finished with 30 points, eight rebounds, seven assists and three blocks in 29 minutes. Hardaway scored a season-high tying 28 points and was 10-of-17 from the field and grabbed seven boards in 28 minutes as the Mavs outscored the Knicks in the third quarter, 41-15.
DINWIDDIE’S NEAR TRIPLE-DOUBLE: Somehow lost in the hot three-point shot-making by the Mavs was a magnificent performance by Spencer Dinwiddie. Playing with so much pride and confidence after scoring just two points Thursday in Detroit, Dinwiddie almost finished Saturday’s game with a triple-double. In the end, he came up just one rebound and one assist short as he collected 1
7 points, nine rebounds, nine assists and finished with a game-high plus/minus of plus 35. By the way, Dinwiddie only has one career triple-double. That came last season on Feb. 2 when he was a member of the Washington Wizards and collected 14 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists during a 106-103 victory over the Philadelphia 76ers.
MAVS CONTAINED RANDLE IN SECOND HALF: During the opening two quarters, Plano native Julius Randle was having a good ‘ol time running roughshod over his hometown team. In the first half Saturday, Randle scored 21 points, grabbed three rebounds, handed out two assists and was 7-of-12 from the field – 2-of-5 from three-point range. Then came the second half, and a collapsing Mavs’ defense that suffocated Randle. In the second half Randle was limited to just three points and was 1-of-3 from the field – all of those were three-pointers – and also had two rebounds and one assist. Luka Doncic said: “Dwight (Powell) did a great job — an amazing job — on him. We just had to slow him down.”
Twitter: @DwainPrice
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