Danilo Gallinari finished the night with 27 points to lead the Knicks, and Toney Douglas put in a solid effort from the bench with 22 points including three 3-pointers.
Dirk Nowitzki led the Mavericks with 29 points and 11 rebounds, and Tyson Chandler also had a double-double with 15 points and 11 rebounds as New York was outrebounded 54–34 for the game. Jose Juan Barea put up 22 points from the Mavericks bench.
The fast paced, exciting first quarter saw two major swings in scoring after a closely matched start to the game.
First the Mavericks pulled ahead by 9 points on a 15–2 run with Nowitzki leading the effort. The veteran Jason Kidd ran the Dallas offense well, still showing the occasional burst of speed.
Then, Knicks coach Mike D’Antoni called a timeout following which Gallinari gave the Knicks a burst of energy with some nice drives to the basket.
Stoudemire began to score down low off some good assists and the Knicks finished out the quarter on a 20–3 run to go up by as much as 8 points and ignite the crowd.
Blocked shots, alley-oop dunks, and turnovers abounded in a hotly contested second quarter that saw several lead changes.
The scoring opened on an even stranger note than in the first quarter with the Mavericks opening on a 10–0 to retake the lead.
Douglas finally hit a 3-pointer to break the ice for the Knicks four minutes into the quarter.
Dallas beat New York badly on the boards in the second quarter, grabbing twice as many rebounds.
New York also failed to match the offensive intensity they played with in the first quarter, scoring just half of their first quarter points despite a 21-point first half performance from Stoudemire.
The half finished with Dallas up 56–52 with good even double-digit scoring from Nowitzki, Chandler, and DeShawn Stevenson. Barea also put up 10 points.
Second Half
The Mavericks ran all over New York throughout the third quarter, draining six 3-pointers and going up by as much as 24 points.
A D’Antoni timeout with three minutes to go in the quarter helped give the Knicks an offensive boost as it did in the first quarter, and Gallinari again came out leading in scoring. The Italian scored 10 points in the quarter alone mostly off foul shots and a 3-pointer.
Meanwhile, Stoudemire went scoreless as New York went on a 13–0 run to cut the Mavericks lead back to 11 and get the crowd back in the game. The quarter finished with the Mavericks up 86–73.
The fourth quarter did not go well for New York, as once again they lost their offensive energy, got outrebounded, and failed to get defensive stops.
Stoudemire didn’t get the good assists that he did in the first half and went scoreless as he did in the third quarter. The Knicks nearly managed to even up the scoring in the fourth quarter but were unable to dig out of their third-quarter hole for a disappointing loss.
The Knicks will play the Philadelphia 76ers in a two-game series on Friday and Sunday.
