DALLAS – Kyrie Irving scored 23 points and the Dallas Mavericks improved to 4-1 on the season without superstar Luka Doncic, beating the New York Knicks 129-114 on Wednesday night.

Jalen Brunson matched his season high with 37 points for New York in his second game in Dallas against his former team. Karl-Anthony Towns had 25 points and 14 rebounds, but OG Anunoby was limited to eight points on 3-of-15 shooting two nights after hitting a career-high 40.

Doncic missed his fourth straight game with a sprained right wrist, and the defending Western Conference champions were without two other starters: Klay Thompson (plantar fascia) and Daniel Gafford (illness).

Dallas’ Naji Marshall scored 24 points, Spencer Dinwiddie added 21 and PJ Washington had 19 points and 10 rebounds.

Takeaways

Knicks: Towns faced the Mavs for the first time since the West finals with Minnesota. He shot 28% through the first three games as the Timberwolves fell behind 3-0 and lost the series in five. Towns came to New York in the blockbuster trade that sent Julius Randle to Minnesota.

Mavericks: Doncic and Brunson, drafted together in 2018, have met just one in five opportunities since Brunson signed with the Knicks as a free agent in 2022. Dallas won the only meeting in December 2022 in New York, six months after the pair went to the West finals together.

Key moment

Tom Brady had the crowd on the field buzzing when he entered during the first quarter. The NFL analyst was in town for the Dallas-New York Giants Thanksgiving game on Thursday.

Key stat

The Knicks had their season-low for any quarter with 15 points through the first two nights after setting the NBA high this season with a 145-118 win in Denver.

Next

The Knicks are in Charlotte on Friday. The Mavericks play at Utah on Saturday.

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AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/nba