Another night, another game in which the New York Knicks come up with a new way to blow a lead late in the game. The Knicks suffered a gut-wrenching loss to the Dallas Mavericks on the Tuesday NBA slate in overtime, 126-121.
The fact the game even got to overtime is shocking as the Knicks held a nine-point lead with 33 seconds remaining in the game before storming back to tie it up and eventually win in overtime.
Despite the epic collapse at the end, it was an overall spirited effort by a very short-handed Knicks team. Jalen Brunson was unable to play because of a hip injury, and RJ Barrett played one minute before heading to the locker room with a laceration of his finger and being announced out for the game.
That led to heavy minutes for Immanuel Quickley, Deuce McBride, Quentin Grimes and Julius Randle, who all played 45+ minutes in the game. Tom Thibodeau did not expand the bench after Barrett’s injury as Cam Reddish and Evan Fournier never entered the game despite players looking gassed.
LATEST NBA NEWS: Luka Doncic, Dallas Mavericks & New York Knicks Updates
New York received some excellent performances from their guys, but none compared to what Luka Doncic did for the Mavericks. Grimes was tasked with trying to slow him down throughout the game and found no success in doing so.
“I promise I was trying for sure,” said Grimes. “I mean I’m trying to get over every pick-and-roll. He’s in almost every action. It was a lot on me trying to get over every pick-and-roll with him. He’s crafty with the ball, without the ball. Have to know where he is at all times on the court. He’s one of the top three players in the league for a reason. I have to tip my hat off for sure.”
This game will go down in NBA history given the lead that the Knicks blew but also for Doncic’s individual performance. He finished the game with 60 points, 21 rebounds, 10 assists, two steals and one block. It is the first 60/20/10 game in NBA history and multiple career highs and franchise records were set as well.
Head coach Jason Kidd had some monster performances throughout his Hall of Fame career, but he was left in awe just like everyone else that witnessed what Doncic was able to accomplish on Tuesday night.
“I know, everybody is still in shock. He always does [something new]. He’s special,” Kidd said. “The history of the game is written by the players and it was written again tonight for a player – Luka – doing something that’s never been done before. It’s hard to do – there’ve been some great players before him. As we were walking in, Elgin Baylor, I think Wilt [Chamberlain] – he was in that class and then he separated himself and made his own class, which is pretty cool.”
LATEST NBA NEWS: Luka Doncic, Dallas Mavericks & New York Knicks Updates
A big reason that Doncic was able to keep the Mavericks in the game and eventually get the victory was how often he got to the foul line. He attempted 22 free throws in the game while the Knicks attempted only 24 as a team. New York head coach Tom Thibodeau gave credit to Doncic for his performance but was critical of his team’s defensive performance.
“He is a monster player. There are some plays I thought he made good plays and was aggressive. But you can’t keep fouling a guy and give 22 free throws up,” Thibodeau said. “We keep talking about verticality and staying restricted, but we keep whacking down all the time. Until we fix that, it is going to costs us.”
LATEST NBA NEWS: Luka Doncic, Dallas Mavericks & New York Knicks Updates
This is the second truly unexplainable loss that the Knicks have suffered against the Mavericks this season. On December 3rd, New York built a lead as big as 15 points in the first half, but trailed by as many as 32 points and ended up losing 121-100.
