Knicks flip-flop, get flattened in loss to Mavericks

DALLAS — The shots weren’t falling for the Knicks Wednesday night, struggling to find the range from just about anywhere on the court. But if one thing was a sure thing it was this — Josh Hart rushing the ball up the floor on a fast break and floating a lob for OG Anunoby to easily slam in alone.

But as Anunoby, who had just scored a career-best 40 points in the least game, tried to slam it in it rattled off the back of the rim and out and on the end Kyrie Irving easily drained a long three-point field goal. And maybe that was the time where it became clear what kind of night this was going to be for the Knicks.

The wild rollercoaster ride of a road trip continued with the Knicks alternating nights when they look like potential champions and then appear bound for the lottery the next. This one was a night to throw away the tape — like the Utah game two games ago — as they were dominated from the start and the 129-114 final score didn’t indicate just how much of a struggle it was most of the night.

The Knicks shot 46.5%, including going 7-for-29 on three-pointers.

The Knicks now head to Charlotte for a Black Friday finale to the five-game trip with a 2-2 record so far and a hope that the holidays can push aside the memory of this game.

Just two days after putting up record-setting numbers in the win in Denver the Knicks were trying to avoid setting marks for futility this time against the defending Western Conference champions. But the Mavericks were doing it this night without Luka Doncic or Klay Thompson and it didn’t matter.

Anunoby finally scored on a layup from a Towns feed with 7:37 to play in the game after misfiring on his first 11 attempts. But by then this game was long decided. He finished with eight points on 3-for-15 shooting. Jalen Brunson had 37 points as he tried to single-handedly drag the Knicks back into this game and Karl-Anthony Towns finished with 25 points and 14 rebounds.

But that late push hid in the boxscore what had been a problem all night.

Before the game Mavs coach Jason Kidd had high praise for the Knicks offense, just before his team humbled it.

“When you talk about KAT, it’s ability to post, play inside and out,” Dallas coach Jason Kidd said. “He’s shooting the three well. Brunson and KAT are the No. 1 pick-and-roll combination in the league. So just understanding his ability — if you’re late in any defensive schemes, he’s going to shoot it and most likely it’s going in. So understanding he’s one of the best big shooters in this league and also he can play in the post. And he can hurt you down there, too.

“You look at their offense. I think they’re No. 2 in offense. They can score, they can shoot the three. They put you in the pick and roll. And when you look at Brunson’s assists, a career high, [it's] just understanding that he’s not just a scorer, but he can find teammates, too. We’ve seen that when he was here, and we’re seeing that as a Knick, too. And he’s playing the game the right way.”

The Knicks shot just 4-for-21 in the first quarter — misfiring on all eight of their three-point field goal attempts — and seemed fortunate to be trailing just 28-15. The struggles continued as the half wore on. Anunoby’s missed dunk and the Irving three upped the lead to 43-22 and Dallas led by as many as 24 in the second quarter. Anunoby would finish the half 0-for-8, scoreless, and the Knicks trailed 60-38.

The Knicks finished the half just 11-for-42 and hit just 2-of-16 from beyond the arc (both by Mikal Bridges). It wasn’t just Anunoby as Hart was 0-for-5 and Towns was just 2-for-8. The 38 points marked their lowest scoring half of the season and came after they scored 40 in a quarter Monday and for the third time this season had 76 in a half.

The Knicks cut the deficit to 13 midway through the third quarter, but the Mavs quickly pushed the lead back to 19, 81-62, and prompting another Knicks timeout.

Notes & v quotes: Tyler Kolek was held out with an illness . . . Quentin Grimes, who was traded last season from the Knicks to Detroit and then was moved to Dallas in the summer, had 21 points for Dallas.While he was on the first pieces of last year’s team to depart he was surprised to see the Knicks makeover. “The biggest thing was Donte [DiVincenzo]. Just watching him last year and the whole time in the playoffs, I thought Donte was going to be a guy who was going to be a New York lifer for sure. But that’s the business of the NBA. Everybody has to do what’s right for the organization and I feel like that was one that really surprised me in the offseason for sure.”

By Steve Popper

steve.popper@newsday.com@StevePopper

Steve Popper covers the Knicks for Newsday. He has spent nearly three decades covering the Knicks and the NBA, along with just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.