It might have taken them five games, but the Knicks finally got their first victory outside of the Garden on Wednesday night as they outlasted the Mavericks in an absolute nail-biter in Dallas, winning 113-111.
The Knicks, without their starting wing in OG Anunoby, faced a heavily injured Mavericks team without Cooper Flagg and Anthony Davis. Dallas, even without its stars, kept the game within reach for the entire 48 minutes, staying within single digits of the Knicks.
The Mavs took short leads in the fourth quarter, but late-game heroics from Landry Shamet gave the Knicks the lead and let them keep it.
Before this game, the Knicks and the 2-13 Indiana Pacers were the only teams in the league yet to get a road win. Now, the Pacers stand alone.
Brunson and the crew are back to business
Jalen Brunson, who had missed the last two games due to a grade 1 ankle sprain, returned to the court and returned to the city that first drafted him. Since signing Brunson in 2022, the Knicks have struggled against the Mavericks on their home turf, losing three straight games in Dallas.
New York finally turned that streak around, with Brunson leading the way in his first game back. The star guard showed no signs of slowing down from his ankle sprain, with a game-high 28 points along with five assists.
Behind Brunson was Karl-Anthony Towns, who had 18 points on 6-for-16 shooting but also racked up a team-high 14 rebounds and six assists. Mikal Bridges was tied with Towns, also dishing out six assists, scoring 16 points on 7-for-13 shooting.
Josh Hart had a signature Josh Hart double-double, leading the bench in scoring with 16 points, along with 10 rebounds and five assists.
Late-game Landry
Landry Shamet was making headlines just two games ago with an unexpected career-high 36-point performance to get the Knicks their first NBA Cup win against the Miami Heat.
He saved the Knicks yet again in Dallas with two clutch, go-ahead threes that sealed the deal to get them the win against the Mavericks.
Shamet, starting in place of the injured Anunoby, had no threes made before the last two minutes of the game. His two threes were as timely as it gets, knocking one down with 1:03 left to go, putting the Knicks up one point. His second three came off a Josh Hart offensive rebound and assist, giving the Knicks a three-point lead with 31.4 seconds left.
Still, even with those late-game heroics from Landry Shamet, the Knicks still struggled to pull away from the Mavs in the final seconds. Shamet missed two free throws with only 22 seconds left on the clock, giving Dallas another shot to tie the game.
The intentional foul-free throw game would go on for a bit, and the Knicks missed five of their last six free throws, with Mitchell Robinson and Brunson also going to the line. This kept Dallas within striking distance, giving them the ball down two with just 3.8 seconds left.
Brandon Williams stormed down the court, eventually scoring a layup that most of the crowd thought was a tough, buzzer-beater and-1 bucket on Shamet, but it was called an offensive foul by the refs.
It took them 14 games into the season, but the Knicks can finally say they’ve got their win on the road. They look to build on this momentum on the road against the Orlando Magic on Saturday, who handed New York its first home loss of the season on Nov. 12.
