Shorthanded Knicks Compete But Fall Short to Mavericks

Working with seven dressed players, the New York Knicks put forth a futile yet respectable effort against Luka Doncic and the Dallas Mavericks.

There's working overtime, and then there's what members of the New York Knicks had to do on Thursday night.

Injuries and transactional delays forced the Knicks to play with eight dressed men against the Dallas Mavericks hours after they traded for former Detroit Pistons Bojan Bogdanovic and Alec Burks. While the shorthanded group, also missing OG Anunoby, Jalen Brunson, and Julius Randle due to injuries, put forth a respectable effort, they wound up falling short of an unlikely victory, as Dallas prevailed 122-108 at Madison Square Garden.

Luka Doncic led the way with 39 points for the Mavericks, who doomed the Knicks to their second loss in the past three games after a nine-game winning streak. The win also secured a sweep of the yearly interconference pair for the second straight season.

Vincent Carchietta, USA TODAY SPORTS

In addition to the pregame departures, the Knicks (33-19) were also limited to only 15 minutes of Isaiah Hartenstein, who left the game with a sore Achilles that previously kept him out of two late January games. The other four starters were thus all forced to play at least 39 minutes. Westchester standouts Charlie Brown Jr. and Jacob Toppin also enjoyed the first extended action of their Knicks tenures, playing 22 and 12 minutes respectively as part of the Knicks' meager bench efforts.

Despite all that, the Knicks still managed to keep pace with the Mavericks, who also had a few roster spots open after making trades for Daniel Gafford and PJ Washington. Dallas (29-23) threatened to pull away on several occasions, but the Knicks managed to keep things relatively narrow thanks to 36 points from Donte DiVincenzo and the second career triple-double (23 points, 12 assists, 10 rebounds) for Josh Hart. Both former Villanova Wildcats extended career-long streaks to six, as DiVincenzo scored 20 points again while Hart's triple-double (his second in the last five games) afforded him another 10-rebound game.

The Mavericks' most formidable run appeared to be an 18-6 run in the third that established a 20-point lead. All but seven points in that nearly-five-minute span were earned by Doncic and he also assisted on a Jaden Hardy double. But the Knicks sliced the to 16 by the end of the period and whittled it to eight with just over three minutes remaining, establishing a late outside prowess: DiVincenzo, Hart, and Miles McBride all hit two each and one more from Precious Achiuwa (who pulled in a game-best 16 rebounds) allowed the Knicks to go 7-of-13 from deep in the final dozen.

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But one last Dallas onslaught, namely consecutive triples from Doncic and Tim Hardaway Jr., forced the Knicks into their fate. The Dallas duo united for 12 of the Mavericks' 18 three-pointers, which has served as a major problem for the Knicks in their past couple: combined with 21 from the Memphis Grizzlies on Tuesday, the Knicks have let up 38 from deep over their last two games, the worst they've allowed in consecutive games since early December.

Time will tell if Bogdanovic and Burks will be ready to make their metropolitan debuts on Saturday when the Knicks close a lengthy homestand against the Indiana Pacers (7:30 p.m. ET, MSG).