Knicks react to historic loss to Mavericks: ‘We shouldn’t have been in that position’

Dec 27, 2022; Dallas, Texas, USA; Dallas Mavericks guard Luka Doncic (77) reacts after scoring during the fourth quarter against the New York Knicks at American Airlines Center. / Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports

It was a tough night for the Knicks on Tuesday.

New York came into Dallas losers of three in a row — all at home — while having the lead in the fourth quarter in all of those games. Now on the road, where the Knicks entered Tuesday with a 10-6 record, they blew a historically late lead to fall to the Mavericks 126-121 in overtime.

Up nine with 33 seconds remaining, the Mavs chipped away at the lead thanks to timely threes and some boneheaded plays by the Knicks. Luka Doncic capped the comeback with a last-second jumper after missing the second of his two free throws on purpose to send the game to overtime.

In the last 20 seasons, teams who were down nine or more points with 35 seconds or fewer never won. They were 0-13,884 before the Mavericks’ win, according to ESPN.

Coach Tom Thibodeau was short on words when asked to describe what happened in the final seconds of regulation.

“It’s a shame not to come out of here with a win,” he said after the game “So, 29 seconds to go. Their shots… offensive rebounds…fouls. So yeah. Disappointed.”

Thibodeau would eventually list off all the things that went wrong in that half minute for his team. Giving up uncontested shots, missed free throws down the stretch, giving up an and one that didn’t “make sense” all contributed to Dallas tying the game and eventually winning in overtime.

It also didn’t help that Doncic had an historic night of his own. The perennial All-Star posted 60 points, 21 rebounds and 10 assists. It’s the first 60/20/10 game in NBA history.

“He’s a monster player,” Thibodeau said of Doncic. “There’s some plays where he’s making good plays and being aggressive but we can’t keep fouling a guy, giving 22 free throws up. We talk about verticality and restricted all the time and we keep whacking down. So until we fix that, that’s gonna cost us.”

Doncic went 16-22 from the charity strike while the Mavs as a whole went 25-33 as opposed to the Knicks’ 15-24.

Second-year Knick Quentin Grimes — who had a career-high 33 points — was tasked with guarding Doncic for most of the game and could only give his props to the 23-year-old.

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“I promise I was trying to [guard him],” Grimes said after the game. “I’m trying to go over every pick and roll, he’s in almost every action. It was a lot on me, trying to get over everything. He’s crafty with the ball, without the ball. I need to know where he is at all times on the court.

“He’s one of the top three players in the league for a reason. He showed that tonight so I gotta tip my hat for sure.”

Prior to Tuesday’s game, Jalen Brunson was ruled out with a hip injury and RJ Barrett had to leave with a lacerated finger two minutes into the game and never returned. With those injuries, the Knicks had to lean on their starters and bench players to put in extra minutes.

While the extra workload likely contributed to the Knicks’ sluggish finish in regulation and loss in overtime, Thibodeau refuses to use it as an excuse.

“When you get to overtime, there is gonna be heavy minutes [for both teams], that’s the reality of it.” he said. “You’re matched up with who they have on the floor as well. We got to make plays, but we shouldn’t have been in that position.”

Now in the midst of a four-game losing streak, the Knicks continue their road trip by heading to San Antonio to take on the 11-23 Spurs on Thursday night.

While the Knicks still have a winning record (18-17) they have slid in the Eastern Conference standings to the No. 6 seed. If they want to continue to hold on to a playoff spot, they’ll need to learn how to close out games and their next game against the lowly Spurs could be just what the doctors ordered to help stop this losing streak.