Game: New York Knicks @ Dallas Mavericks
Time: 8:30 p.m.
Odds: Knicks +6, Mavericks -6
Total: 221
The New York Knicks will start a tour of Texas tonight traveling to Dallas to kick off their run through the Longhorn State. Dallas is riding a three-game winning streak while the Knicks have lost three in a row. Both teams were part of the NBA’s Christmas Day showcase. The Knicks, of course, lost to Philadelphia 119-112. The Mavs beat the Lakers 124-115.
Luka Doncic scored 32 points, grabbed nine rebounds, and dished out nine assists in Dallas’ rout of Los Angeles on Sunday. Christian Wood chipped in with 30 points, eight rebounds, and four steals. The Mavs’ pair helped Dallas score 51 points in the third quarter, making it the NBA season’s highest-scoring period this season.
The Dallas offense is primarily led by Doncic, who leads the NBA with 32.8 points per contest, but Sunday’s victory had a very different course from the Mavericks’ 112-106 victory at Houston on Friday. No other Mavericks player scored more than 11 points, while Doncic scored 50. Dallas was able to have a more balanced offense against the Lakers thanks to Wood’s performance and Tim Hardaway Jr.’s 26 points, which included 6-of-14 shooting from beyond the three-point arc.
With Tuesday’s trip to Dallas, New York will face each of the NBA’s top two scorers in back-to-back games. The Knicks will face Doncic just two days after giving up 35 points to Philadelphia’s Joel Embiid.
After the Knicks had been the league’s hottest team for more than two weeks, Embiid’s effort and James Harden’s 29 points doomed New York to a third straight loss.
From Dec. 4 through Dec. 20, New York went 8-0, but last Wednesday, they fell to Toronto, 113-106, after giving up 52 points to Pascal Siakam. After Jalen Brunson missed two potential game-winning free throws on Friday, the Knicks gave up a game-winning jumper to DeMar DeRozan on Sunday in a 118-117 loss to Chicago.
Prior to their winning streak, the Knicks’ most recent defeat was a 121-100 loss to this same Dallas team on December 3. In the defeat, New York conceded 30 points to Doncic and 28 to Hardaway, who happens to be a former Knick. He was acquired by Dallas in 2019 as part of a trade.
RJ Barrett and former Maverick Brunson, two of the Knicks’ three offensive leaders, struggled to score 13 points apiece in the most recent matchup with Dallas. It’s unclear if Brunson will play tonight. According to the team, Brunson left Sunday’s loss early in the fourth quarter due to a hip injury. He is listed as questionable for tonight.
Dallas is 4-2 SU and ATS in its last six games. The Mavs are very good at home, going 12-4 SU in their last 16 games. Despite their three-game losing streak, the Knicks are 8-3 SU and ATS in their last 11 games. They are also 5-2 SU and ATS in their last seven games against Dallas.
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