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The New York Knicks led by nine with under a minute a go, and usually that would mean a victory is incoming, but this game went to overtime and they eventually dropped the contest to the Dallas Mavericks.
This all came on the back of an other-worldly performance by superstar Luka Doncic. Although Jalen Brunson didn’t suit up for the Knicks, they almost didn’t need him as they had what appeared to be a commanding lead in the closing seconds of regulation.
That was before Doncic switched into hero mode, and he was able to force overtime by hitting a bucket off a purposely missed free throw.
ESPN’s Tim McMahon told us just how historic this win was for the Mavs.
“NBA teams were 0-13,884 in the last 20 seasons when trailing by at least nine with 35 or fewer seconds remaining, per ESPNStatsInfo,” he tweeted.
Doncic’s performance caught the NBA world on fire, and he even gained the attention of crosstown rival and Brooklyn Nets star Kevin Durant.
Durant Gives Credit
Doncic puts up big stats with regularity, but nothing quite like his performance at the expense of the Knicks.
The Mavs star finished with 60 points, 21 rebounds and 10 assists, essentially mimicking the type of stats you would see in NBA 2K23.
Durant acknowledged that by firing off a tweet shortly after the game wrapped up.
“That was a MyCareer type performance from Luka tonight,” he said. “Some video game s**t.”
While it was a game the Knicks certainly should have won, there wasn’t much they could do to stop Doncic, and the end of regulation came down to a lot of luck as well as heroism.
At the end of the day, the Knicks have now followed up their surprising eight game win streak with a four game losing streak and they have to figure out how they can right the ship. It’s tough to drop the game against Dallas, and the Knicks will now have to continue their road trip through Texas. Luckily for them, things do get easier as the Spurs and Rockets are next up on the schedule.
Some Encouraging Signs
The loss to the Mavericks will likely be dwelled on for a while by Knicks fans, but there were some encouraging things to take away from the loss.
Quentin Grimes, a player who was at the center of the Donovan Mitchell trade talks this past summer, had a great night as he scored 33 points on 12-25 shooting. He hit seven of his 16 three pointers, and while it didn’t result in a win for the Knicks, if these types of performances become the norm and Brunson is healthy, then New York would be looking good.
If there’s such a thing as a moral victory, the Knicks have proven they can hang around with some of the best teams in the league after being in close games against the Sixers and now the Mavs.
Through it all, the Knicks still hold the 6th seed in the Eastern Conference, so the backslide hasn’t cost them in the standings, but they’ll have to get things turned around fast if they want to stay out of the play-in tournament.
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