Mavs enjoy a No-Nonsense win over the Knicks

I miss Knicks coach Mike D'Antoni not being in Phoenix anymore. When he was coaching the Suns, the Mavericks got to play against his team four times a year instead of only twice.
His team’s inability to play any defense whatsoever always makes for a really entertaining game. The Knicks played so little defense last year in the Garden when the Mavs came to the Big Apple that the Mavs won by 50 pts. This year was much the same as the Mavs cruised to their 33rd victory of the season winning 113-97.
Below are some news and notes concerning the Mavs 16 point win over the New York Knicks:


1. Brian Cardinal started at the small forward spot for the second straight game in a row. I know that he's only keeping the position warm for Peja, but I still am amazed that our starting lineup is employing the Janitor. I can't help but wonder if the Mavs would be better off signing my mom to a ten day contract and giving her Cardinal's minutes.

2. In the 2nd half, Rick Carlisle benched the ineffective Cardinal and he wisely inserted JJ Barea into the starting lineup instead. JJ’s smooth offensive play netted him 22 points for the night. JJ shot an impressive 3-4 from behind the arc.

3. Tyson Chandler made another strong impression in his bid to replace the injured Yao Ming in the NBA All-Star game. Tyson came out dunking (3 in the first quarter alone) including an incredible jam set up by a beautiful behind the back pass in the lane by Jason Kidd.

4. Chandler complemented his ferocious dunks with some lock down defense on Amare Stoudemire in the 2nd half. After scoring 21 points in the first half, Amare went scoreless in the 2nd half, mostly due to Tyson’s defensive efforts.

5. How little defense did the Mavs play in the 1st quarter? The Mavericks gave up 34 points, but real the indicator that they played so poorly is the fact that they got dunked on by both Danilo Gallinari and Timofey Mosgov.

6. The Mavs righted the ship in the 2nd quarter though when they didn’t allow the Knicks to score until a Toney Douglas three pointer at the 8:17 mark.

7. On a couple of different occasions, the Knicks crowd began to chant MVP when Amare Stoudemire came to the line to shoot his free throws. The Knicks fans had the right chant, but they were doing it when the wrong man was on the free throw line. While Amare wilted in the 2nd half, Dirk Nowitzki, the true MVP candidate, was busy pushing his point total up to a game high 29 pts to go along with 11 boards and 3 assists.

8. Former Maverick malcontent, Shawne Williams, has apparently puffed his career up from the ashes in New York. Fortunately for the Mavs, he only smoked us for 2 points in this contest. (If you don't get the drug jokes, click here)

9. It’s not hard to see why the Mavs won tonight. First of all, the Mavs have Dirk Nowitzki. Secondly, the Knicks played guys by the name of Toney Douglas, Bill Walker, Landry Fields, and Timofey Mosgov. Mystery solved.