Damyean Dotson drained a career-high eight 3-pointers and scored a team-high 27 points Sunday night as the New York Knicks ended a franchise-record 18-game home losing streak by beating the San Antonio Spurs, 130-118.
The Knicks, who hadn’t won at home since beating the NBA-leading Milwaukee Bucks 136-134 in overtime on Dec. 1, came within one loss of tying the NBA record for the longest home losing streak, which was established by the Dallas Mavericks during the 1993-94 season.
The streak-busting win came without much stress or suspense. The Knicks, who took the lead for good late in the first quarter, led by as many as 23 in the third quarter and never allowed the Spurs to get closer than eight in the fourth quarter. Kevin Knox (19 points, 10 rebounds) and Mitchell Robinson (15 points, 14 rebounds) each had double-doubles for the Knicks, who won for just the fifth time in the last 37 games, a stretch that included a franchise single-season record 18 straight losses between Jan. 7 and Feb. 13.
Dennis Smith Jr. had 19 points and 13 assists, Emmanuel Mudiay scored 19 points and Lance Thomas added 16 points for New York. Robinson also had five blocks.
At 12-48, the Knicks need to win five of their final 22 games to avoid “surpassing” the 2014-15 team, which finished with a franchise-worst 17-65 record.
DeMar DeRozan scored 32 points for the Spurs, who have lost six of seven but remained tied with the Los Angeles Clippers for seventh place in the Western Conference by virtue of the Clippers’ 123-96 loss to the Denver Nuggets.
San Antonio and Los Angeles are one game ahead of the ninth-place Sacramento Kings.
LaMarcus Aldridge had 18 points for the Spurs, while Bryn Forbes scored 15 points. Jakob Poeltl had 12 points and nine rebounds off the bench, while Rudy Gay added 10 points.
Knox’s 3-pointer with 1:01 left in the first quarter snapped a tie and gave the Knicks the lead for good at 29-26. New York went ahead by double digits for the first time at 50-40 on Mudiay’s 3-pointer with 6:05 left in the second quarter.
Dotson scored eight points in a 16-4 third quarter run that extended the Knicks’ lead to 90-67. The Spurs answered with their own 16-4 run to end the quarter and got within eight points six times in the fourth quarter.
But New York punctuated the long-awaited win in the final minute, when Smith fired the ball off the backboard to set up a thunderous dunk by Robinson. —Field Level Media
