Knicks 128, Mavericks 94

The Dallas Mavericks had the most lopsided victory in franchise

history when they beat the New York Knicks by 50 points in the

teams’ last meeting nearly two months ago.

This time, it was the Knicks’ turn for a rout.

Bill Walker scored a career-high 23 points, Wilson Chandler

added 22 and New York snapped the Mavericks’ 13-game winning streak

with a 128-94 victory on Saturday night.

“Revenge is sweet sometimes. That’s a really good team over

there but we caught them at the right time. They were ripe for the

picking,” said New York reserve Al Harrington, who had 20 points.

“When you’re rolling along and the Knicks are coming in, you

figure you can score 150 points on ’em in your sleep. But that

Knick team didn’t show up today. We caught ’em by surprise.”

Rookie Toney Douglas had 21 points, and David Lee contributed 15

points and 14 rebounds for the Knicks, who’d lost 14 of their

previous 17 and nine straight in Dallas.

“We felt they’d take us lightly,” said Douglas, making his

first start since Nov. 18. “A lot of teams look at the schedule

and say, ‘Oh, that’s the Knicks. That’s a win.’ But we’ve got to

come out and compete every night.”

The Knicks celebrated a rare highlight in an otherwise

forgettable season, shooting 56 percent from the floor (50 for 89)

and 16 of 30 from 3-point range. Dallas hadn’t been beaten by the

Knicks at home since Dec. 16, 1999.

Dirk Nowitzki had 20 points and 12 rebounds, and Jason Kidd

added 15 points for Dallas, which won 128-78 at New York on Jan. 24

and hadn’t lost since Feb. 16.

Slow starts had become a habit for the Mavericks during their

streak, and the Knicks carried a 30-25 edge into the second

quarter.

Early on, several Knicks told the Mavericks that Dallas would be

in for a tough night.

“They remembered (the blowout in New York),” said Dallas’

Shawn Marion, who scored 14 points. “They even said something to

me about it before the game. They said they were going to give us a

spanking.”

Harrington had 15 points in the first half and Douglas 13 in his

third career start to help the Knicks take 58-48 lead at the

break.

The Knicks opened the third quarter with a 20-9 spurt, capped by

Tracy McGrady’s three-point play, to expand their advantage to

78-57.

McGrady had 11 third-quarter points, including a pair of

3-pointers, and the Knicks took a 91-66 lead into the final

quarter.

New York went on to lead by as many as 37 points in the fourth

quarter behind 16 points from Walker.

Afterwards, the Mavericks didn’t seem overly concerned about the

blowout.

“You especially don’t want it to come to an end like this, but

at the same time it was a great run,” Marion said. “Now it’s time

to start another one. I think we’ve just got to learn from it. It

seemed like everything we did out there wouldn’t go right

tonight.”

NOTES: Kidd’s first-quarter 3-pointer was his 140th of the

season, a new career high. … Mavericks G Jose Juan Barea had 14

points after missing the previous game with a left ankle injury.

… Dallas’ No. 2 scorer Jason Terry sat out his fifth consecutive

game (surgery to repair facial injuries). Terry has resumed

practice while wearing a protective mask, but there’s no timetable

for his return. … The Knicks had lost 15 of the previous 16

meetings with the Mavericks. … Dallas’ longest winning streak in

franchise history is 17 games during the 2006-07 season. … The

Mavericks wore “Los Mavs” uniforms as part of Hispanic Heritage

Month. … New York G Chris Duhon made his first appearance in 12

games.