Game Day: Knicks @ Mavericks, 4/16/21

Minus their fourth quarter hero Alec Burks, can the Knicks extend their win streak to five straight on the road against the Mavericks? Things will need to go much differently than the last time these two teams faced off.

The Knicks just got their first four-game win streak of the season the other night. You know what that means? Time for the first five-game win streak!

The Mavs aren’t exactly crushing it lately. The last time the Knicks faced off with them on April 2, they crumbled down the stretch and ultimately lost in embarrassing fashion as they became the third victim in a five-game Mavs winning streak. These days, the Mavs are losers of three of their last five, and really it would have been four of their last five if not for the Grizzlies being total boneheads the other night.

The Knicks will, unfortunately, be without Alec Burks tonight as he’s been admitted to the league’s health and safety protocols.

Alec Burks (health and safety protocols) is out for tonight’s game at Dallas.

— NY_KnicksPR (@NY_KnicksPR) April 16, 2021

That said, I’d imagine the Knicks are just going to roll with the same starting five.

Luckily, since the last time these two teams met, the Knicks seem to have gotten over their “we’re good enough to get ahead of teams and then just coast” mentality that lost them so many tight games (or in the case of the Dallas game, a game that quickly turned not-so-close). Hopefully minus Burks, Julius Randle can continue his nuclear hot streak, and RJ Barrett can re-find his groove after a rough couple of games.

But… and hear me out here… maybe the biggest thing the Knicks could do in this game with Burks out is to unglue Frank Ntilikina from the bench, considering he’s the one player on this roster that’s shown that he can easily handle Luke Doncic. Just a thought!

The game’s at 9:30 PM tonight on ESPN. Primetime, baby! Get hype!