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Mavericks ride spurts past Knicks

Jan 9, 2009 - 5:18 AM By Randy Krone PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

DALLAS (Ticker) -- The Dallas Mavericks hope their 99-94 victory over New York on Thursday adds more fuel to a surge that started with a victory over the Knicks in November.

The Mavericks' come-from-behind 124-114 overtime victory against New York on November 16 sparked a 20-6 run they currently are still riding.

Dallas managed to take the lead at one point in the second quarter, 37-36, on two free throws by Brandon Bass. The Mavericks didn't see the lead again until the final shot of the third quarter as James Singleton hit a 21-foot jumper from the side to give Dallas an 80-78 lead.

The basket was part of a 13-0 run that bridged the final two quarters and gave Dallas an 83-80 lead.

"We know in the fourth quarter we've got some things we like to do," Mavericks guard Jason Terry said. "We're confident that we can always come back and can take a game to overtime or just win it right there."

The Knicks regained the lead at 86-85, but Dallas then ran off five straight points.

"I thought we had some good looks in the second half," New York coach Mike D'Antoni said, "but a couple of things turned against us. When you're scratching and clawing and trying to get everything just right and a couple of things go against you ... it's tough to make up.

"I thought we got a lot of good shots and in the first half, we hit them - and that's why we were up five. In the second half, we just didn't hit them."

Jason Kidd hit a 3-pointer with 4:11 to play to give the Mavericks a 93-89 lead.

Chris Duhon, who scored 22 points on 9-of-9 shooting in the first half but was held to a single field goal in the second half, had an opportunity to put the Knicks ahead but missed a

coast-to-coast driving layup with 43 seconds left in the game.

"I was trying to get everyone involved in the second half," Duhon said. "We were still doing well up until the last couple of minutes. It's frustrating. We just weren't catching any breaks and not making our plays down the stretch."

Nowitzki was fouled by David Lee on the rebound and hit both free throws to put Dallas ahead by three.

Terry iced the victory with a corner jumper with nine seconds left.

"It came down to one stop and one score and that was the game," Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle said. "Let's face it, if they hit one more 3 in the last two minutes, we may be talking about a loss."

Josh Howard and Kidd paced the Mavericks with 19 and 16, respectively. Nowitzki, double-teamed almost the entire game, contributed 10 points - including six in the second half.

"We kind of expected that coming into this game," Kidd said. "We saw that when they played Boston. They totally took Kevin Garnett out of the game, so we were prepared for that. Unfortunately, I couldn't make any shots at the beginning of the game and they got hot. It was a crazy game but we stayed with it and found a way to win the game in the end."

Lee had his seventh consecutive double-double for New York with 13 points and 15 rebounds while Wilson Chandler added 20 points.