NEW YORK _ On a day when team president Phil Jackson declared in a published interview that he was sticking to his plan for rebuilding the Knicks, coach Jeff Hornacek made an executive decision to bench one of Jackson's prized acquisitions. And the result was a much-needed win.
With center Joakim Noah watching from the bench, the Knicks produced a monster third quarter and rolled to a 93-77 victory over the Dallas Mavericks on Monday night at Madison Square Garden.
Hornacek decided to bench Noah after the center went scoreless and grabbed six rebounds in just over 15 minutes in the first half. Instead, Hornacek went small, bringing in Justin Holiday and letting Carmelo Anthony play power forward and Kristaps Porzingis play center.
The Knicks, down by three at the half, outscored the Mavericks 31-12 in the third period. Anthony had 17 of his 24 points in the quarter. Holiday scored seven points, including a 3-pointer that gave the Knicks a 10-point lead.
Porzingis finished with 24 points and 11 rebounds. Holiday, who entered the game averaging 4.7 points, had 16 on 6-for-7 shooting.
The Knicks (4-6) ended a two-game losing streak.
The Knicks' biggest concern entering the game continued to be defense, despite the fact the Mavericks were missing both Dirk Nowitzki and Deron Williams, a point guard who had given the Knicks a lot of problems.
The Knicks entered the game with the 26th-ranked defense in the league, allowing an average of 109.9 points. In their first nine games, the team held only one opponent, the Nets, to fewer than 102 points.
Hornacek believes that part of the problem, especially with the starting unit, is that they aren't always in a position to execute their help defense.
"There's good spurts and bad spurts," he said. "In the starting group, you are playing against the top guys in the league. Sometimes as a defender you say, I got to get close to my guy and don't let him score because he's such a great player. But then, you are out of the team defensive concept. And, even if you are guarding a great player, you still have to be in a help spot and go out to that guy."
