Knicks 90 - Mavericks 101

By CHRIS SHERIDAN, AP Basketball Writer
January 24, 2003
 
NEW YORK (AP) -- The Mavericks and Knicks were equals for three quarters Friday night. In the fourth, Dallas showed why it has the NBA's best record.

Dirk Nowitzki scored 30 points for the second straight night and Nick Van Exel made five 3-pointers to lead Dallas to a 101-90 victory over New York.

Improving to 34-8 and preventing the Knicks from their first four-game winning streak of the season, the Mavericks used a zone defense to outplay New York in the fourth quarter after the game was tied 74-74 entering the final 12 minutes.

``Our zone defense really worked well in the fourth because our man-to-man was shaky all the way through,'' Nowitzki said. ``In the zone we contested every shot, we clogged the middle with Shawn (Bradley) and Raef (LaFrentz) and that really won the ballgame for us.''

Michael Finley added 20 points and nine assists and Van Exel scored 17 for the Mavericks, who won despite a poor performance by Steve Nash. Nash shot 0-for-9 from the field and had his streak of 47 consecutive free throws snapped when he missed a technical foul shot in the first quarter.

Latrell Sprewell scored 21 and Kurt Thomas added 17 points and 12 rebounds for the Knicks, who were outscored 27-16 in the fourth quarter.
 
``The zone is such a great weapon for them because they're such a scoring team,'' Knicks coach Don Chaney said. ``They can match your scoring, but if you stop scoring they continue to score.''

Dallas won at Madison Square Garden for the first time since Nov. 6, 1990 -- a span that included 10 consecutive defeats.

The Mavericks improved to 10-1 on the road against teams from the Eastern Conference.

``We didn't have a great performance. It was somewhat typical of the second night of a back-to-back,'' Nash said. ``But we had some guys step up, and overall we gutted it out in the second half and were able to match their intensity.

Coming off an impressive performance at Philadelphia on Thursday, Nowitzki got off to a fast start with 14 first-quarter points. Sprewell scored 13 in the quarter and Howard Eisley had seven points and six assists as the period ended in a 29-29 tie.

Thomas, who picked up two fouls in the first 2:50 of the game, stayed out of foul trouble in the second quarter and collected 11 points and five rebounds to help New York to a 53-46 halftime lead.

The momentum shifted Dallas' way midway through the third quarter when Othella Harrington flagrantly fouled Nowitzki, yanking him down by the jersey. Nowitzki made both free throws and Adrian Griffin scored on a putback as Dallas retained possession, giving the Mavericks a 66-65 lead.

Van Exel hit consecutive 3s early in the fourth, the second of which gave the Mavericks an 86-80 lead. Finley hit a 12-footer, Bradley scored on a layup and Nash made two free throws for a 92-80 lead with 6:35 left.

New York came back with a 6-0 run, but 3-pointers by Finley and Nowitzki got the lead back to 12 with 3:16 left.

``I don't think it was a 100 percent effort. I was disappointed with how we finished the game,'' Sprewell said. ``I give them all the credit. There's areason why they have the best record in the league.''

Notes

New York is 17-24 at the midpoint of the season, one victory better than they were at this point a year ago. ... The Knicks had held their previous five opponents below 100 points, winning four times. ... Nash also had a streak of 49 consecutive free throws earlier this season. ... Thomas was twice called for fouls while fighting through picks and had to be restrained by Harrington after it happened the second time. ``I definitely would have liked to have been out there, but the whistle didn't blow my way. But I'm used to it. It's been fun,'' Thomas said sarcastically. ... Antoine Rigaudeau played 9 unproductive minutes in the second quarter, recording no statistics other than a foul and a turnover. He is 1-for-9 from the field since leaving the Italian League to joinDallas.

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