The victory was the Knicks first over the Mavericks in nine tries dating back to Jan. 11, 2006. It was their first win in Dallas in more than 10 years.
“I thought we competed, that’s what we talked about today. And it’s a lot more fun to play this way,” Knicks coach Mike D’Antoni told reporters.
“You can just go down the whole list, they all brought something and turned it into a great outing.”
The Knicks (23-43) also gained a measure of revenge after suffering their worst defeat on record, 128-78, against the Mavs on Jan. 24 at Madison Square Garden.
“It feels good. Revenge is sweet sometimes,” Knicks forward Al Harrington told reporters. “That’s a really good team over there but we just caught them at the right time.”
New York’s Bill Walker scored a season-high 23 points off the bench, including 16 in the fourth quarter, while Dirk Nowitzki led the Mavericks with 20 points.
Mavericks (45-22) forward Shawn Marion said it was just one of those games for Dallas.
“It seemed like everything we did out there wouldn’t go right tonight,” added Marion.
“They hit everything, they had everything going, and they were attacking the basket earlier and once we cut them off from that they started hitting shots from outside.
“We’ve got to just chunk this one up and throw it out the window.”
New York built a 10-point lead in the first half before streaking ahead with a 21-6 run in the third quarter. They led 91-66 heading into the fourth.
“It was a poor performance all around. We really didn’t come close to winning a quarter,” Dallas coach Rick Carlisle told reporters. “When you get thoroughly thrashed like that, it’s something that’s difficult. We’ve got work to do.”
(Reuters) – NBA results on Saturday (home team in CAPS).
ATLANTA 112 Detroit 99
Orlando 109 WASHINGTON 95
Denver 125 MEMPHIS 108
NY Knicks 128 DALLAS 94
HOUSTON 116 New Jersey 108
SAN ANTONIO 118 LA Clippers 88
GOLDEN STATE 124 Toronto 112
