DALLAS _ Arriving for a Wednesday night game that had little significance to the NBA's West and East playoff races, American Airlines Center fans at least figured they would see an intriguing matchup-within-the-matchup.
Mavericks icon Dirk Nowitzki, 38, versus Kristaps Porzingis, the 21-year-old New York Knick who grew up idolizing Nowitzki.
What the fans saw was Nowitzki schooling young Porzingis on several occasions and, as a bonus, an entertaining game won by the Mavericks, 103-95.
The fans also saw an example of a star player, the Knicks' Carmelo Anthony, taking out his frustrations against not-so-much the Mavericks but, indirectly, the franchise whose name is stitched across the front of his jersey.
Hours after a report surfaced that the Knicks had offered Anthony to Cleveland for Kevin Love, and were turned down, Anthony unleashed a 30-point barrage, 22 of them coming in the first half. Take that, Knicks _ and team president Phil Jackson.
Oh, and back to that Nowitzki-Porzingis matchup, though in truth the 7-foot-3 Porzingis rarely guarded 7-foot Nowitzki, or vice versa: Nowitzki produced perhaps his best performance since his Dec. 23 return from a strained Achilles.
Nowitzki finished with 19 points to 13 for Porzingis, who was limited to 22 foul-plagued minutes of court time.
Now the not-so-positive Mavericks news: On a night in which center Andrew Bogut returned from a six-game absence, point guard Deron Williams sprained his left great toe in the first half and didn't return. Pierre Jackson, signed to a second 10-day contract Wednesday, played most of the second half in Williams' place.
Williams joined fellow starting guard Wesley Matthews on the sideline. Matthews, who strained his right hip Sunday against the Lakers, sat out Wednesday's game and also will miss Thursday's game at Oklahoma City.
After the game against the Thunder, Dallas closes January with games Sunday at San Antonio and Monday at home against reigning NBA champion Cleveland. That made winning Wednesday's game against the 20-26 Knicks imperative for a Mavericks team clinging to faint playoff hopes.
Wednesday was Porzingis' first game at American Airlines Center. He had an injured shoulder when the Knicks came last March.
When the Mavericks played in New York early this season, on Nov. 14, Porzingis scored 24 points while Nowitzki sat out with the Achilles injury. Knicks coach Jeff Hornacek noted before Wednesday's game that Nowitzki revolutionized the NBA, paving the way for Porzingis and other outside-shooting big men to play that way today.
"The way the game is with 3-point shooting and big guys pulling people away from the basket, it helps the guards out," Hornacek said. "And with these pick-and-roll rules it allows for guards really to be able to attack.
"If you have big guys in there clogging it up, it makes it tough for the guards. Dirk's influence on this league with having a big pull the other big away from the basket to shoot outside shots, you see a lot of teams doing that. That's the way the game is now."
Nowitzki taught Porzingis an early lesson Wednesday. Porzingis switched onto Nowitzki on a pick-and-roll and Nowitzki, knowing Porzingis already had a foul, faked him into the air and drew another. Porzingis left the game after playing only 4:12.
Porzingis was whistled for another foul soon after re-entering the game in the second quarter. His first-half showing: Zero points, zero rebounds and one assist in 5:16.
Nowitzki's first half: 13 points, two rebounds.
