It wasn’t exactly an artistic masterpiece of a game for the Knicksbut when the buzzer sounded it was recorded as a 113-111 victory against the Dallas Mavericks Wednesday, their first road victory of the season.
“Finally. Finally,” Jalen Brunsonwho scored a team-high 28 points, said he ended his four-game losing streak on the road. “We are happy, but we have a lot of work to do.”
Advertisement
At first, it was anything but pretty: 9-for-25 from the floor, including 3-for-11 from behind the arc in the first quarter. Down the stretch, it looked like New York was going to squander the hard work put in on the defensive end – holding Dallas to 16 for 42 (38.1%) from the field in the first half to stay in the game – and a three-point advantage. Landry Shamet provided when he knocked down three straight points with 31 seconds remaining. For what? Due to ineptitude from the free throw line: 19 of 35 (54.3%) for the game and 3 of 10 in the fourth quarter.
After Brunson made 1-of-2 from the line with 3.8 seconds left to give the Knicks a lead, Dallas’ drive toward midcourt quickly found the quick. Brandon Williams drive to Shamet. After a little contact, his left hand hooked the Knicks defender as he went for the layup. The ball went in, but the referee called an offensive foul with 0.7 seconds remaining.
“Tough call,” Mavs head coach Jason Kidd said. “He had a good look, but they called a foul.”
Mike Brown said Shamet was the team’s defensive player of the game for doing a “fantastic job with the ball” all night.
Advertisement
“I give (referee JT Orr) credit, it was a hook,” the Knicks coach said of the call. “And a lot of people wouldn’t have called it down the stretch, but it was the right call. And Landry busted his butt to go down there and create that.
“I mean, chaos,” Brunson said of the final moments of the match.
Shamet admitted it was a tough way to end a match.
“It was a good decision by the authorities,” he said. “It’s hard to see the game end on a decision like that, but I think they made the right decision. I want that one, as a defender, I want that one.”
But even in victory, Shamet focused on how he escaped guilt for his mistakes down the stretch.
Advertisement
“But we don’t want it to come down to that,” he continued. “We need to do a better job playing 48 minutes and find a way to create more separation earlier in the game.”
And it wasn’t all bad for the visitors. New York shot 21 of 43 (48.8 percent) from the field in the second half, including 9 of 20 from behind the arc after going 3 of 22 from deep in the first half. And Shamet, who was 1-for-4 in the first 46:58 of the game, knocked down big shots late, with his team trailing twice, then 30 seconds later with the score tied.
“The ball found me, I didn’t find any open looks at first,” he said. “I stayed calm and I knew I had a feeling some guys were going to come in on fourth down and they did. Just step up, ready to shoot, good plays from my teammates and I take them.”
Advertisement
Even though Shamet made the game-clinching shot to give the Knicks the lead for good before what can only be described as a game-winning defensive stop, the two he missed in the line-up three with 22 seconds left remained a thorn in his side.
“I have to make two free throws,” he said. “A wild finish down the stretch. It’s a road win, they’re not always going to be pretty. It wasn’t 48 minutes of basketball we’d like to play.
“But you will take the road to victory and we can build on that.”
Brunson echoed that sentiment.
“I found a way to win,” he said. “It was ugly, but when you win ugly, that’s the sign of a team that’s learning and improving.
Advertisement
“Whatever the situation, we have to find a way to win. »
Ultimately, the Knicks made just enough plays to get the job done. Proving, once again, that it is better to be ugly in victory than pretty in defeat.
