Porzingis, Jack help Knicks edge Mavs to end slump

DALLAS — On the day the New York Knicks guaranteed his contract for the rest of the season, Jarrett Jack hit the big shot to deliver them a victory.

Jack's floater in the lane with 31.2 seconds to play snapped a tie, and the Knicks beat the Dallas Mavericks, 100-96, on Sunday night (Monday Manila time).

Kristaps Porzingis scored 29 points for New York, which ended a three-game losing streak and sent the Mavericks to their third straight loss — all at home.

Dallas never led in the game, but for the third game in a row, the Mavericks made a late rally from a double-digit deficit — and fell short just as they had against Golden State and Chicago.

"It's really the same old story," Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle said. "It's an early hole, it's a late rally, and then come up short. Bottom line is we've got to be better early in games."

Harrison Barnes scored 25 points and Devin Harris had nine of his 11 in the fourth quarter for Dallas on the night the team honored long-time point guard Derek Harper by retiring his jersey.

The Mavericks trailed 90-77 with 4:48 left, but went on a 15-2 run over the next 2:20 to tie the score at 92. Harris started and ended the run with 3-pointers.

"We did what we were supposed to do all game, turned up the pressure and intensity," Mavericks guard Wesley Matthews said. "It was just a little too late."

After Porzingis made two free throws and Barnes hit a short jumper, Jack used Porzingis' screen to penetrate into the lane and drop in a floater.

"I was just trying to be aggressive," Jack said. "They had done a good job of mucking the game up, denying a lot of our actions, not allowing us to get the ball in the place that we were trying to get it to. (Porzingis) set a good screen. I saw I had an opening and I just tried to knock the shot down."

J.J. Barea missed a long 3 that would have given Dallas the lead, and Courtney Lee hit four free throws in the final 16.6 seconds to seal it.

Up 56-52 at halftime, New York built its lead to 73-63 midway through the third quarter before the Mavericks closed the quarter on an 8-2 run.

But after Harris' three-point play cut the lead to 77-74 with 11:27 to play, Dallas did not score again for five minutes as the Knicks built the lead back to 13.