Knicks look to avoid being on wrong end of history again, visit Spurs

The New York Knicks and host San Antonio Spurs will look to get back on the winning track when they square off for the first time this season on Thursday night. Both teams dropped games on the road on Tuesday. New York has lost four straight, while the Spurs have been defeated in five of their past seven outings. The Knicks fell 126-121 in overtime in Dallas as Luka Doncic scored a franchise-high 60 points, including a bucket following an intentionally missed free throw with 1 second remaining to send the game to an extra period. New York lost after being up by nine points with 33 seconds left in regulation. "It's a shame to not come out of here with a win," Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau said. "So, 29 seconds to go. Their shots ... offensive rebounds ... fouls. So yeah. Disappointed." The loss overshadowed a career-best night from New York's Quentin Grimes, who poured in a personal-high 33 points and a career-best-tying seven 3-pointers. Julius Randle added 29 points and grabbed 18 rebounds, Mitchell Robinson added 20 points and 16 rebounds and Immanuel Quickley had a career-high 15 assists and scored 13 points for the Knicks. New York played without Jalen Brunson (hip) and lost RJ Barrett to a finger injury 96 seconds into the game. "That's a game we gotta win. There ain't too much else about that. We gotta win that," Quickley said afterward. "I'm sure if you look at the probability of us winning the game with 20 seconds left, I'm pretty sure it's like 99-point-something. We just made too many mistakes and they capitalized on it." Thursday's game in San Antonio will be the second of a three-game, all-Texas trip that ends Saturday in Houston. The Spurs head home after a 130-114 loss at Oklahoma City in the second game of a home-road back-to-back. San Antonio beat Utah 126-122 at home on Monday. San Antonio was within two points heading into the final period but was outscored 35-21 in the fourth. Devin Vassell scored 20 points for the Spurs and Keldon Johnson battled a sore back to add 19. The Spurs played a majority of the game without coach Gregg Popovich, who was ejected less than a minute into the second quarter after two quick technical fouls earned by engaging with game officials. Assistant coach Brett Brown filled in for the remainder of the contest. "We had an incredibly hard time guarding their live-ball penetration," Brown said afterward. "We needed to do better one-on-one defense and keeping the ball out of the paint, and we didn't. ... We let them off the hook at times with unnecessary fouls." Jeremy Sochan added 16 points and Tre Jones had 14 in the loss. San Antonio is 1-6 in the second game of back-to-backs this season, including losses in six consecutive second games. "We are young, trying to figure it out," Spurs forward/center Zach Collins said. "It's hard to get practice time in the NBA. And part of being in the NBA is every team is different, so it's not like we are dealing with the same type of coverages every single night. A young team like us needs to do a better job of paying attention to the scouting report." --Field Level Media