The Knicks won their 3rd straight game — all on the road on the West Coast — by Blowing out the Mavericks in Dallas, 107-77. NY jumped out to an 11-2 lead, ran it to a 19-10 lead, led by 14 at the end of the quarter, led 61-34 at the half, and never let up.
Dallas made a mini run and got to within 15 points late in the 3rd, but the Knicks quickly pushed it back to 20 by end of the quarter, and drove the lead up to 32 points in the 4th. It was a NY blowout start to finish.
The win put NY at 28-38 and gave Knick fans hope that maybe a playoff run is indeed in the works, with 16 games left in the season. NY went 16-4 to end last season with Tom Thibodeau as coach — can they do something like that again this year?
“When we came back from the break — the Miami game, the 2 Philly game, the Phoenix game — I thought we played really well,” said Coach Tom Thibodeau. “We didn’t have a whole lot to show for it, but I thought were playing good basketball. So now we’re starting to scratch out the wins. We just have to keep going; take it day by day, concentrate on improvement; keep getting better. We’ve been emphasizing all year about how important it is to be mentally tough when you’re facing adversity and that’s what we’re doing.”
1. Barrett the Main Assault Weapon Early
RJ Barrett attacked, attacked, and attacked the Dallas middle from the start of the game — and rang up points like an All Star. In the second half, the ball found Julius Randle and Alec Burks more — leading some Knick fans to complain on Twitter that NY should get the ball to Barrett more.
RJ Barrett getting to the BUCKET pic.twitter.com/21J09USidV
— KNICKS ON MSG (@KnicksMSGN) March 10, 2022
Barrett finished with 18 points on 7-16 shooting (0-3 from 3; 4-5 in free throws), 7 rebounds, 4 assists and a +21.
An HONOR to watch RJ Barrett play basketball pic.twitter.com/W9KXf6FuBL
— KNICKS ON MSG (@KnicksMSGN) March 10, 2022
2. Randle the Main Assault Weapon Late
Julius Randle was the go-to guy in the 2nd half — finishing with 26 points on 8-19 shooting (3-7 from 3; 7-10 in free throws), 8 rebounds, 5 assists, and a +18.
Julius spinnin' through the lane pic.twitter.com/LfLZs59B53
— KNICKS ON MSG (@KnicksMSGN) March 10, 2022
3. Knicks DEFENSE Wins the Day
The Knicks throttled Dallas with Defense all night. That, combined with Dallas missing shots all evening (some rushed) resulted in the blowout.
Luka Doncic had 31 points on 12-25 shooting (3-11 from 3) but the rest of the Dallas team were forced into poor shooting performances.
Former Knick Reggie Bullock was 0-8 for 0 points in 30 minutes as the starting small forward.
Immanuel Quickley provided energy at the point position — for a +28 despite poor shooting (2-8 from the floor; 0-3 from 3).
Miles McBride played 22 minutes and had only 2 points on 1-6 shooting, but played heady Defense.
This defense from @deucemcb11 👏 pic.twitter.com/bUtnqsaNBH
— KNICKS ON MSG (@KnicksMSGN) March 10, 2022
Possible future-Knick Jalen Brunson looked mediocre — 8 points on 3-12 shooting (0-5 from 3).
Mitchell Robinson was back from a stomach issue — and had a bang up game — 11 points on 4-4 shooting, 11 rebounds, 3 blocks, 2 steals and a +9.
.@23savage____ FEROCIOUS pic.twitter.com/Z2xwq9u9Hw
— KNICKS ON MSG (@KnicksMSGN) March 10, 2022
Taj Gibson gave 19 minutes of heady play as backup — 11 points, 5 rebounds, and a +19.
Etcetera
Late in the game, Immanuel Quickley and Julius Randle stopped Thibodeau from complaining on a call so as not to get in trouble with a technical — a funny moment:
IQ & Randle calming down Coach Thibs 😂 pic.twitter.com/wmi0ZHgyN3
— KNICKS ON MSG (@KnicksMSGN) March 10, 2022
The Boxscore
https://www.espn.com/nba/boxscore/_/gameId/401360807
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