NBA Score: New York Knicks Beat Dallas Mavericks By Playing Small Ball

Being a head coach in the NBA, you are essentially playing a game of human chess. When things are not going well, you need to make changes throughout the game to turn the tide back in your favor. That is what New York Knicks head coach Jeff Hornacek did against the Dallas Mavericks on Monday. The Knicks were able to beat the Mavericks by a score of 93-77 by going with a smaller lineup, as reported by ESPN.

We’re back in the win column! pic.twitter.com/STLRMofoUk

— NEW YORK KNICKS (@nyknicks) November 15, 2016

The New York Knicks have a legitimate center. He is a former NBA Defensive Player of the Year. He is also being paid $72 million for the next couple of seasons. Joakim Noah might not be the player that he used to be, but he is still a legitimate starter in the National Basketball Association.

After an embarrassing first half of basketball against the Dallas Mavericks, Jeff Hornacek decided to put Joakim Noah on the shelf.

Justin Holiday is a 6-foot-6 shooting guard. He was inserted into the New York Knicks starting lineup by Jeff Hornacek. That moved 6-foot-5 Courtney Lee up to small forward. Carmelo Anthony shifted to power forward, a position where he has been quite dominant at times. Kristaps Porzingis took over the center position from Joakim Noah. Many feel that the second year Latvian might be best at the position in the long term, and it certainly looked that way against the Dallas Mavericks.

With the smaller lineup, Carmelo Anthony and Kristaps Porzingis combined for 48 points and 18 rebounds. They both also shot very efficiently for the New York Knicks. Justin Holiday responded with the additional playing time by chipping in with 16 points off the bench. He only missed one of the seven shots that he took from the field.

When something is working professional sports, people have a tendency to keep going back to the well. With the New York Knicks being able to turn the tide on the Dallas Mavericks by going with a smaller lineup, it is only natural to assume that Jeff Hornacek would consider making a permanent change to his starting lineup. He might end up using Joakim Noah as a bench player like what Chicago Bulls head coach Fred Hoiberg had been doing before the former Florida Gators star departed via free agency.

Being a veteran of the NBA, Jeff Hornacek wisely opted to make a public commitment to a lineup change after the game.

By going with a smaller lineup, the New York Knicks made it harder for the Dallas Mavericks to keep Andrew Bogut on the floor. While he is considered one of the better defenders in the NBA, it is really hard for the 7-foot center to keep up with someone like Kristaps Porzingis, an athletic 7-foot-3 player who can knock down shots from beyond the three-point line. Bogut played just 21 minutes against the Knicks.

The Dallas Mavericks relied most heavily on Seth Curry and Justin Anderson off the bench. That trend continued against the New York Knicks. Both players received a good amount of minutes from Dallas Mavericks head coach Rick Carlisle. Unfortunately, neither one of them was able to make enough of an impact to turn the tide of the game.

Not having Dirk Nowitzki available also threw off the rotation a bit for the Dallas Mavericks. While he is not the greatest perimeter defender in the NBA, he would have been matched up against Kristaps Porzingis more frequently than not.

It should be interesting to see how Jeff Hornacek and the New York Knicks move forward from here on out.

[Featured Image by Michael Reaves/Getty Images]