Knicks End Mavericks' 13-Game Win Streak

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.

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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."

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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