Morris helps Knicks survive Mavs in Porzingis' return


Reuters | New York | Updated: 15-11-2019 09:49 IST | Created: 15-11-2019 09:46 IST
Morris helps Knicks survive Mavs in Porzingis' return
Image Credit: Twiter (@nyknicks)
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Marcus Morris Sr. drained the tie-breaking 3-pointer with 13.4 seconds left Thursday night as the host New York Knicks outlasted Kristaps Porzingis and the Dallas Mavericks in a wild 106-103 win. The Knicks won for just the third time in 12 games this season, but two of those wins have come at the expense of Porzingis and the Mavericks. New York traded Porzingis, its first-round pick in the 2015 draft, to Dallas in February in a blockbuster deal involving six players and two first-round picks.

The Mavericks have lost three of four. Porzingis collected a double-double (20 points, 11 rebounds) but was scoreless in the fourth quarter. He was booed throughout his first game as a visiting player at Madison Square Garden. Morris' game-winning shot capped a back-and-forth fourth quarter in which there were five ties, the last of which was created when Seth Curry put back a Tim Hardaway Jr. miss to knot the score at 101-101 with 38 seconds left.

The Knicks' Julius Randle and the Mavericks' Delon Wright were whistled for a held ball on the next possession. Randle won the tip, and the ball ended up in the hands of Morris, who dribbled for a few seconds while being guarded by Maxi Kleber before taking a step back and hitting the go-ahead shot. Luka Doncic, who recorded his fifth triple-double of the season, drove the lane to pull the Mavericks within one point with 5.8 seconds left. But Frank Ntilikina hit two free throws with 3.9 seconds to go, and Curry missed an off-balance 3-pointer with 0.8 seconds left.

Morris scored 16 of his team-high 20 points in the second half. Julius Randle had 17 points and 10 rebounds, while Mitchell Robinson scored 16 points. Dennis Smith Jr., one of the players the Knicks acquired for Porzingis, collected 13 points, eight assists and six rebounds. Doncic finished with 33 points, 11 assists and 10 rebounds in his 13th career triple-double -- the most ever in the NBA by a player before his 21st birthday. Hardaway, who was sent to the Mavericks in the Porzingis trade, scored 12 points and had the 3-pointers in the first and fourth quarters that gave Dallas its only leads. Dwight Powell added 12 points.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

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