Everything seemed to be going smoothly at the Garden, with the Knicks appearing to have the game in hand at halftime. But then everything changed, the Knicks literally collapsed in front of the Mavs dragged by Tim Hardaway jr. and Doncic.
Tom Thibodeau explained (via New York Post) what bothered him the most:
“The thing that bugged me more than anything, when we shot it – some of them are trips which they called tight, but we should have adjusted to that – the live ball turnovers bugged me and then the second shots ” Thibodeau said. . “It was good early defense at times and we gave up on second chances. Give a team like that a second and third try, it will pay off and we did.”