DALLAS â Justin Anderson was in total lockdown mode Wednesday night at American Airlines Center.So much so that when the Dallas Mavericks’ second-year forward saw teammate Dorian Finney-Smith walking to the scorer’s table â presumably to take his place â with under four minutes remaining in rhe game against the New York Knicks, Anderson turned to coach Rick Carlisle and shouted: “No coach. I’m good.”Anderson wanted to continue with the stern challenge of trying to slow down Knicks perennial All-Star forward Carmelo Anthony. And that’s precisely what transpired as the Mavs defeated the Knicks, 103-95, and won for the fifth time in their last seven games.Although Anthony torched the Mavs for 30 points, he went scoreless in the fourth quarter, primarily while being guarded by Anderson.”Every possession he tries to find your body, and he is a great player,” Anderson said of Anthony. “In the first half he had me a little discouraged â just some tough shots (Anthony made).”But I stayed with it and my teammates had my back.”Anthony, who was 13-of-24 from the field overall, got off just two shots and turned the ball over twice during the eight minutes that he played in the fourth quarter.The Mavs originally wanted Wesley Matthews to be the player shadowing Anthony. But he strained his right hip during Sunday’s 122-73 win over the Los Angeles Lakers and missed the game against the Knicks, and will also miss Thursday’s contest at Oklahoma City.That left the heavy lifting to players like rookie Dorian Finney-Smith and Anderson.”He really took a quantum leap in the second half,” Carlisle said of Anderson. “Not coincidentally, Wes Matthews was in his ear during the timeouts helping him, so it was big.”Anthony misfired on a 3-point field goal with 26.8 seconds left and the Mavs up 101-95. Anderson then closed out the scoring with a pair of free throws with just 16.8 seconds to go.”He was aggressive,” Knicks coach Jeff Hornacek said of Anderson. “He’s a big, strong player that plays with his aggressiveness.”He kept (Anthony) from getting anything easy, bodied him and made it tough. To his credit he did a good job defensively.”Anthony also credited Anderson for his superb defense.”Anderson is a guy who plays tough — a physical guy,” Anthony said. “I thought we kind of let our foot off the gas a little bit.
Click here to read full story »