Mavericks Couldn't Buy 3 Against Knicks

Horrific 3-point shooting is probably the biggest reason the Dallas Mavericks were routed 107-77 by the New York Knicks on Wednesday.

The first half was a shooting disaster, with the Mavs scoring just 34 on 12-44 (27.3 percent) shooting, including a paltry 1-21 (4.8. percent) on 3-pointers. Dallas didn't make a single shot from deep until Spencer Dinwiddie did with 47.3 seconds left in the second quarter.

The Mavericks finished 6-44 (13.6 percent) from beyond the arc, setting a new season-low percentage. Dallas joined the Boston Celtics as the only teams this season to shoot below 15 percent from 3-point range while taking at least 40 attempts.

Luka Doncic Guarding RJ Barrett

Luka Doncic & Julius Randle

Mavericks vs. Knicks

"They were wide-open [shots]," Kidd said. "That's basketball; you make some, you miss some. We missed a lot of them [Wednesday night], unfortunately.

"You shoot 13 percent, we shot 44 3s, only made six of them. A lot of those were wide-open shots. We'll get those shots in Houston, and you've got to hope that they go down."

The Mavs (40-26) open a five-game road trip Friday at Houston.

Perhaps most surprising was all the Mavericks' complementary players struggling on the same night. Luka Doncic (three) and Spencer Dinwiddie (two) accounted for all but one of the team's 3-pointers and shot a combined 5-15 (33.3 percent).

Reggie Bullock (0-8), Jalen Brunson (0-5), Davis Bertans (0-5) and Maxi Kleber (0-4) combined to miss 22 combined attempts from deep. Dorian Finney-Smith shot 1-4 (25.0 percent).

"That's why you play 82 games," Kidd said. "Held [New York] under 42 percent; we just couldn't score. And it happens. It happened early in the season, and we found ways to win games, and we found ways to lose games. We'll learn from this, pack, and travel ... to Houston."

The Knicks shot only 9-34 (26.5 percent) on 3s, but it didn't didn't matter with Dallas shooting even worse.

Luka Doncic Shooting vs. Knicks

Luka Doncic Attempting a Floater

RJ Barrett Guarding Luka Doncic

Going forward, it's unlikely the Mavs pile up more such shooting performances as a team. There have been only 11 games this season where a team shot 20 percent or lower on 3s with at least 40 attempts, with only three occurring since the start of the calendar year.

“Next game," Doncic said. "We won five in a row and we had one bad game, that’s it. So we move on.”

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