Doncic, Hardaway led Mavs to 121-100 victory over Knicks

NEW YORK — Luka Doncic collected 30 points, eight rebounds, seven assists and three blocks, and Tim Hardaway Jr. added a season-high tying 28 points as the Dallas Mavericks regrouped from a seven-point halftime deficit to pound the New York Knicks, 121-100, Saturday afternoon at Madison Square Garden.

In squaring their record at 11-11, the Mavs flew home after the game and will host the Phoenix Suns on Monday.

Other Doncic and Hardaway, Spencer Dinwiddie tallied 17 points for the Mavs, Maxi Kleber poured in 13 points, and Reggie Bullock added 10 points. Plano native Julius Randle led the Knicks with 24 points, Immanuel Quickley scored 23 points, RJ Barrett popped in 13 points, and former Mavs guard Jalen Brunson finished with 13 points,, two rebounds and three assists, and was 5-of-11 from the field.

Trialing, 59-52, at the half, the Mavs busted the game open by outscoring the Knicks, 41-15, in the third quarter. In the third quarter alone, Doncic scored 19 points, Hardaway scored 17, and the Knicks scored 15 as Dallas toted a 93-74 lead into the fourth quarter.

The Mavs kept piling on the points in the final quarter and led by as much as 32 points – 116-82 – after Bullock drained a three-pointer with 6:17 remaining in the game.

The Mavs attempted more three-pointers (61) than two-pointers. And those 61 shots from downtown tied for the fourth-most in NBA history. The Houston Rockets own the top three spots for the most three-pointers attempted with 70, 68 and 63, and also had a game where they fired up 61 three-pointers.

After scoring just 11 points in the first half, Doncic came out in the third quarter with a more offensive mindset, which accounts for the 19 points he tallied in that quarter. Hardaway also was firing away in the third quarter, and wound up tossing in five of his eight three-pointers in that quarter.

Meanwhile, the Mavs bottled up Randle by holding him to just three second-half points after he poured in 21 points in the first half.

As far as Brunson goes, he never particularly got it going against his former team.

The game got so out of hand that rookie Jaden Hardy was able to play the final 6:34 and wound up scoring five points on 2-of-5 shots. Those were Hardy’s first NBA points, asnd after the hame FDoncic presented him with the game ball.

For those keeping score, the first half was very uneventful when comparing what Doncic and Brunson produced. Doncic had 11 points, three rebounds and three assists and was 3-of-11 from the field at the half, while Brunson had eight points, two rebounds and two assists on 3-of-5 shots.

New York built a 38-23 lead less than two minutes into the second quarter on a basket inside the paint from Isaiah Hartenstein. But less than seven minutes later, the Mavs put together a 20-5 rally to tie the game at 43 on a three-pointer by Hardaway.

Twitter: @DwainPrice