While injuries continue to mount for the Dallas Mavericks, the healthy players who remain are determined to keep pressing forward.
Harrison Barnes scored 23 points and Seth Curry had 20 as the Mavericks beat the New York Knicks 103-95 on Wednesday night.
Dirk Nowitzki added 19 points for Dallas, which was coming off a 49-point blowout of the Los Angeles Lakers. The last-place Mavericks (16-29) have won five of seven.
Carmelo Anthony, the subject of trade talk, scored 30 points to lead the Knicks. Courtney Lee had a season-high 23 for New York, which has lost 14 of 18.
Dallas played without Wesley Matthews and lost Deron Williams to injury late in the first half.
"That is the story of our season right now," Curry said. "Guys are going down so everybody is stepping up."
Barnes, one of the few Mavs players who has been healthy all season, scored 13 after halftime.
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"Once I got hurt and other guys got hurt, he kind of got thrown in the fire," Nowitzki said of Barnes. "He's been fantastic. Just being in that position more and more, you get more experience, and he's tough to guard now."
Dallas led by as many as 10 in the third quarter, but the Knicks rallied to get within one twice in the fourth quarter.
Down 89-88, the Knicks had the ball on a fast break, but Ron Baker missed a 3-pointer from the right corner.
Curry followed with a long jumper at the other end, keying an 8-0 run as New York turned the ball over on three consecutive possessions.
"We've got to stay away from careless turnovers," Anthony said. "We had eight in the fourth quarter; that's the game right there. We've got to do a better job taking care of the ball, protecting the ball, getting what we want."
Nowitzki gave the Mavericks the lead for good at 65-63 in the third quarter when he scored off an offensive rebound. Dallas went on a 14-2 run capped by Dorian Finney-Smith's 3-pointer with 3:08 left in the period, giving the Mavericks their biggest lead at 75-65.
Tip-Ins
Mavericks: The team signed guard Pierre Jackson to a second 10-day contract, and he played 24 minutes largely in place of Williams. If the Mavericks want to keep Jackson longer than 10 days, they would be required to sign him for the rest of the season.
Knicks: Kristaps Porzingis played only five minutes in the first half after picking up three fouls. He scored all 13 of his points after halftime. ... Rookie center Willy Hernangomez had a career-high 16 rebounds. ... New York coach Jeff Hornacek said forward Lance Thomas had a mask to protect his fractured orbital bone, but was still experiencing headaches during workouts so the team will take its time returning him to action.
Medical Update
Williams came up limping after he stepped on Joakim Noah's foot late in the first half. Williams hit a 3-pointer later in the same possession but asked out of the game and went straight to the locker room. He was diagnosed with a left big toe sprain and sat out the second half. He will likely miss more time.
Matthews sat out after straining his right hip on Sunday. Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle said Matthews will miss at least one more game.
On the plus side, Andrew Bogut returned to action after missing six straight games with a right hamstring strain.
No Distractions
Despite his name coming up in trade speculation, Anthony said after the game that the chatter was not a distraction to him or the team.
"Until management comes to me and says something, that's something I can't feed into," he said. "At this point, I really don't have any reaction to it. It's something that we've talked about, it's something that we've discussed amongst each other, it's something that we don't want to bring into this locker room."
Up Next
Mavericks: Visit Oklahoma City on Thursday for the first of three matchups this season with the Thunder.
Knicks: Host Charlotte on Friday for their only home game in a six-game stretch.
