DALLAS — It was a miraculous display of misfiring. Rim clank after rim clank. The Mavericks could’ve built the Great Wall of China with all those bricks.
The Knicks caught Dallas on the right night, at least the right first half, and, to their credit, fully capitalized in a 107-77 blowout victory Wednesday night. The Mavs, one of the hottest teams in the NBA, missed their first 19 three-point shots, yet they kept chucking, unashamedly.
In the end, the Mavs (40-26) missed 38 of their 44 three-point attempts — 38 misses!!! — and had their five-game winning streak snapped. Luka Doncic (31 points) got no help.
“I know a lot of them were wide open. It’s basketball,” Dallas coach Jason Kidd said. “You make some, you miss some. And we missed a lot of them, unfortunately.”
The Knicks (28-38), showing signs of life as winter fades into spring, won their third consecutive behind a balanced attack and committed perimeter defense, with Dallas native Julius Randle playing Homecoming King while scoring 26 points with eight rebounds in 34 minutes.
“I enjoy coming home,” Randle said with a smile. “Sleeping in my own bed that’s not in New York. Being able to hang out in family and friends and seeing loved ones and I always enjoy it.”
Randle’s squad moved to 3 ½ games behind the Hawks for the final play-in spot, and he remains focused on the postseason.
“I’m a glass half-full kind of guy,” he said.
The Knicks swept the season series against the Mavs and still represent the only NBA team Doncic hasn’t defeated at home.
Even during this Knicks season of collapses and failures, Wednesday’s monster lead never felt doomed. The Mavs made a brief run in the third quarter, cutting the deficit to 14. But then Randle took over by attacking the rim and the lopsided first half carried the night.
“It was probably our best defensive performance of the year,” Randle said.
The Mavs managed just 34 points by the break and trailed by 27 points, ultimately insurmountable. Just five minutes after tipoff, the Knicks were up by double-digits. They led by as many as 28 in the second quarter. If it weren’t for Spencer Dinwiddie mercifully converting with 48 seconds left in the half, the Mavericks would’ve started 0-for-20 from deep.
Retired Mavs legend Dirk Nowitzki, watching from courtside, could’ve easily suited up to a better shooting performance.
The Knicks, meanwhile, benefitted from six players scoring in double digits — Randle, RJ Barrett, Evan Fournier, Alec Burks, Taj Gibson and Mitchell Robinson. On the other side, Reggie Bullock symbolized the Mavericks’ shooting woes by going 0-for-8 from beyond the arc and 0-for-2 from the foul line.
Randle, whose mother, sister, wife and son watched from courtside seats Wednesday, has played with extra oomph and motivation in American Airlines Center, averaging 27.8 points in the six games there before Wednesday. He dropped a 44-point double-double in last season’s appearance in his hometown, perhaps the best performance of his entire All-Star campaign.
“It’s automatic, man,” Randle said. “Playing in front of my mom, sister, obviously my wife and sons were here. But anytime I play in front of family, I always want to give them a good little show.”
Randle was also coming off Monday’s career-best 46-point gem in a victory over Sacramento. Wednesday in Dallas wasn’t as spectacular, but the Knicks didn’t need an offensive gem with so many Mavericks misses.
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