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Kristaps Porzingis and Mavericks to face Knicks in New York tonight
By InsideHoops.comNovember 14, 2019
5:55 p.m. ET
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Mavs vs Knicks game preview
The Dallas Mavericks (6-4) visit the New York Knicks (2-9) in Madison Square Garden tonight. It's the first game former Knick Kristaps Porzingis will be playing in New York as a visitor. The game is at 8 p.m. ET and will be televised nationally on ESPN.The Mavs have enjoyed MVP-level play this season from young star Luka Doncic. The Knicks, built around an interesting mix of veterans on short-term contracts and young talent like rookie R.J. Barrett, are still finding their direction.
MAVERICKS NOTES
Mavericks second-year guard/forward Luka Doncic, who doesn’t turn 21 until 2/28/20, already owns the record for the most triple-doubles by a player before his 21st birthday in NBA history (12). He recorded eight as a rookie alone, breaking Magic Johnson’s previous such record of seven, which was set before the Mavericks franchise was even formed in 1980 (Johnson’s record had stood since 3/30/80). Doncic’s eight tripledoubles in 2018-19 not only marked a Dallas rookie record (previous most: 4 by Jason Kidd in 1994-95), but also represented the third-most by any rookie in the history of the league (behind Oscar Robertson’s 26 in 1960-61 and Ben Simmons’ 12 in 2017-18). His eight triple-doubles last year were also one off of Jason Kidd’s record for the most by a Maverick in any one season in franchise history (Kidd had 9 as a second-year player for Dallas in 1995-96). Kidd holds the team-record for most triple-doubles with 21. After earning NBA Rookie of the Year honors in 2018-19, Doncic has picked up where he left off. This season, Doncic set the NBA record for the most 30-point triple-doubles by a player before turning 21, when he had his third such game (second in 2019-20) vs. the Knicks on 11/8/19 (career-high 38 points, 14 rebounds and 10 assists vs. New York). He has also set franchise marks for most 30-point triple-doubles (3) and 20-point triple-doubles (10) this year.
After tallying his 400th career block (in his 195th career game) at Boston (11/11/19), Mavericks forward/center Kristaps Porzingis became the first player in NBA history to total 300-plus 3- pointers and 400-plus blocks in less than 200 career games (he recorded 304 3FGM and 400 blocks through 195 games).
The Mavericks won their first four road contests in 2019-20 (at New Orleans 10/25/19, at Denver 10/29/19, at Cleveland 11/3/19, at Memphis 11/9/19), marking just the second time in franchise history they’ve started a season 4-0 on the road. The only other year they won four-or-more consecutive road games to begin a season was in 2002-03 (Dallas started 7-0 on the road that year). Dallas also became the only NBA team to win its first four road games in 2019-20.
The Mavericks have hit at least five 3-pointers in a franchise-record 274 consecutive regular-season games (3/9/16-11/11/19). It’s the second-longest such streak in NBA history (Houston is currently riding an NBA-record streak of 277 straight games with at least five triples from 3/5/16- 11/11/19). The previous team record was 56 straight games with five-plus triples from 4/10/15-2/3/16. Dallas went 20-of-41 (.488) from deep in its 131-111 win at Cleveland on 11/3/19. It marked just the fourth time in the team’s 40-year history that the Mavericks hit 20-or-more 3-pointers in a regular-season game. Dallas did it twice in 2018-19 and once the season prior.
KNICKS NOTES
R.J. Barrett in his most recent game posted 21 points, nine assists and six rebounds over 32 minutes in 11/11 loss @ CHI.
• First Knicks rookie to post 19/15/5 in a game since Bill Cartwright on 12/14/79 (32/18/5 vs. NJN).
• In his first ever NBA game, Barrett recorded 21 points, five rebounds and two assists over 37 minutes.
• Became just the third Knicks rookie ever to post at least 20 points in the season opener.
The Knicks leading scorer so far this season is forward Marcus Morris, who in 11 games played is putting up 18.5 points and 6.0 rebounds per game. He's hitting nicely from outside, connecting on 42.2% of his three-pointers.
Power Forward Julius Randle is third on the team in scoring, behind Morris and rookie R.J. Barrett (16.0 ppg), at 15.6 points a team-high 9.6 rebounds, and 3.8 assists per outing.
The big Knicks question mostly points in the direction of head coach David Fizdale. He has tough decisions to make on a nightly basis; in regard to minutes distribution. All head coaches face this, of course. But Fizdale faces difficult choices on whether to play young rookie-contract talent, or the more proven veterans the team signed this summer who are mostly on short-term contracts.
But tonight, it's all about Kristaps' return to Madison Square Garden.