The New York Knicks will try to pull out of a slump when they begin a tour through Texas on Tuesday, visiting a Dallas Mavericks team on a three-game winning streak.

Both New York and Dallas appeared in Christmas Day showcase games, with the Knicks’ current losing skid extending to three games in a 119-112 decision against Philadelphia and the Mavericks picking up their third straight win, 124-115 over the Los Angeles Lakers.

Dallas overwhelmed Los Angeles on Sunday with Luka Doncic totaling 32 points, nine rebounds and nine assists, and Christian Wood adding 30 points, eight rebounds and four steals.

The duo contributed to a 51-point third quarter, which marked the highest-scoring period of this NBA season.

“Let’s start thinking about the paint before we start shooting (3-pointers),” Mavericks coach Jason Kidd said during his postgame press conference in reference to Dallas’ approach after halftime. “In the third quarter, the ball touched the paint, we started playing through Luka in the post to create some different double-teams, and Luka being the quarterback, he found open guys.”

While the Dallas offense primarily operates through Doncic, who ranks second in the NBA at 32.8 points per game, Sunday’s win followed a much different trajectory than the Mavericks’ 112-106 win at Houston on Friday.

Doncic scored 50 points, while no other Mavericks player scored more than 11. Against the Lakers, Wood’s production and Tim Hardaway Jr.’s 26 points — which included 6-of-14 shooting from beyond the 3-point arc — demonstrated Dallas’ capacity for a more balanced attack without sacrificing Doncic’s scoring punch.

New York sees each of the NBA’s top two scorers in consecutive contests with Tuesday’s visit to Dallas, as the Knicks draw Doncic just two days after surrendering 35 points to league-leading scorer Joel Embiid.

Embiid’s effort, along with 29 points from James Harden, doomed New York to a third straight loss after the Knicks had been the league’s hottest team for more than two weeks.

New York won eight straight from Dec. 4-20 but gave up 52 points to Pascal Siakam in a 113-106 loss to Toronto on Wednesday. The Knicks surrendered a game-winning jumper to DeMar DeRozan — after Jalen Brunson missed two potential game-sealing free throws — on Friday in a 118-117 loss to Chicago, then fell on Sunday.

“It starts with the defensive end. We weren’t able to get stops,” Knicks forward Julius Randle said. “And then, it slows us down offensively.”

The Knicks’ last loss preceding their winning streak came on Dec. 3, a 121-100 setback against this same Dallas bunch. New York gave up 30 points to Doncic and 28 to former Knick Hardaway in the loss.

Hardaway was part of a trade to the Mavericks in 2019.

Two of the Knicks’ three offensive leaders — RJ Barrett and Brunson, a former Maverick — struggled to 13 points apiece in the last meeting with Dallas. Brunson’s status for a return to Dallas, the first of three straight games for New York against the NBA’s Texas franchises, is uncertain.

Brunson left Sunday’s loss early in the fourth quarter with a hip injury, according to the team, which on Monday listed him as questionable for Tuesday’s game.

–Field Level Media

Trail Blazers forward Justise Winslow will miss at least two weeks with a grade 2 ankle sprain, the team announced Monday.

Winslow injured his left ankle during a 101-98 loss at Oklahoma City on Wednesday and left the game in the third quarter. According to the team, Winslow will be re-evaluated in two weeks.

A eighth-year pro out of Duke who played last season for the Los Angeles Clippers and the Trail Blazers, Winslow is averaging 6.8 points, 5 rebounds and 3.4 assists through 29 games. In 344 career NBA games (128 starts) for the Miami Heat, Memphis Grizzlies, Los Angeles and Portland, Winslow owns career averages of 8.2 points, 5.1 rebounds and 2.6 assists.

–Field Level Media

Miami’s defense forced 22 turnovers, the last coming on Victor Oladipo’s steal in the closing seconds, and the host Heat held off the visiting Minnesota Timberwolves, 113-110, on Monday.

Playing without stars Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo, Miami relied on its aggressive defense and complemented it with a balanced offense that proved to be enough to overcome a lackluster shooting night.

The Heat went just 47-of-102 from the floor, including 13-of-49 from 3-point range, but nine players scored between seven and 19 points.

Max Strus led the way with 19 points, including 5-of-10 shooting from beyond the arc. Strus was one of five Miami players to score in double figures. Kyle Lowry finished with 18 points and a game-high nine assists.

Tyler Herro added 14 points despite going ice-cold from 3-point territory at 0-of-8 for the game. Reserves Orlando Robinson and Gabe Vincent provided 15 and 11 points, powering Miami to a 45-32 advantage in bench points, despite a double-double of 21 points and 11 rebounds from Timberwolves reserve Naz Reid.

The Heat also had a 64-52 edge for points in the paint.

Anthony Edwards led all scorers with 29 points. Edwards, however, committed eight of Minnesota’s 22 turnovers, the last of which came on their final opportunity when Oladipo picked Jaden McDaniels’ pass to deny Minnesota a look at a potential overtime-forcing 3-pointer.

Minnesota shot 15-of-34 from deep and was better than 54 percent from the floor overall at 43-of-79, but the giveaways resulting in 23 fewer field-goal attempts ultimately doomed the Timberwolves.

Duncan Robinson and Nikola Jovic each scored nine points for the Heat, Caleb Martin went for eight points and eight rebounds, and Oladipo added seven.

McDaniels scored 16 points, D’Angelo Russell finished with 13 points and dished eight assists, and both Rudy Gobert and Austin Rivers scored 10 points in the loss.

-Field Level Media

Paul George scored 32 points and handed out 11 assists as the visiting Los Angeles Clippers, who rallied from a 14-point deficit in the last three minutes of regulation, captured a 142-131 overtime victory over the Detroit Pistons on Monday.

Luke Kennard had 18 points for Los Angeles, while Marcus Morris Sr., Norman Powell and John Wall supplied 16 points apiece.

George gave the Clippers the lead for good on a steal and dunk with four minutes left in OT. The Clippers outscored the Pistons 14-3 during the extra session with George scoring half of their points.

Bojan Bogdanovic led eight Pistons in double figures with 23 points. Isaiah Stewart had 21 points, Killian Hayes tossed in 18 with 10 assists and Jalen Duren added 15 points and 12 rebounds.

Reggie Jackson scored all 14 of his points in the first half as the Clippers established a 66-61 halftime lead.

The Clippers opened the second half with a 13-6 run.

A pair of George free throws with 7:26 left in the quarter extended Los Angeles’ lead to 86-71. The Pistons soon cut the deficit to four with 11 unanswered points, including five from Duren.

Detroit pulled ahead at 92-91 on Stewart’s fastbreak dunk. Hamidou Diallo made a 20-foot shot after a Clippers turnover in the final second of the quarter, giving the Pistons a 100-96 advantage.

Ivica Zubac made a hook shot with 7:14 left in the fourth quarter to cut Detroit’s lead to 113-112. The Pistons then reeled off 13 unanswered points, including a 3-pointer from Stewart and a Bogdanovic bank shot off an assist from Hayes. Stewart capped it with a three-point play.

The Clippers responded with a 16-2 run to force overtime. Powell got the comeback going with a 3-pointer and Nicolas Batum also knocked down a long ball during that stretch. George had a chance to tie it with 21.2 seconds left but split two free throws, leaving Detroit up 127-126.

Hayes then got fouled and also made 1 of 2 from the line. Terance Mann tied with his first basket of the game with five seconds left. Bogdanovic missed a potential winning 3-pointer at the buzzer.

–Field Level Media

Kyrie Irving scored 15 of his 32 points in the fourth quarter as the Brooklyn Nets survived a shaky finish and extended their winning streak to a season-high nine games with a 125-117 victory over the host Cleveland Cavaliers on Monday night.

The Nets are on their longest winning streak since a franchise-record 14-game run spanning from March 12-April 6, 2006, when the team was based in New Jersey and coach Jacque Vaughn played for the team. Brooklyn also matched the Boston Celtics for the NBA’s longest winning streak this season.

On the 11th anniversary of his NBA debut with Cleveland, Irving made 11 of 19 shots and hit seven 3-pointers as Brooklyn took a pair of 19-point leads before withstanding Cleveland’s late comeback try that featured several big shots by Darius Garland, who led all scorers with 46 points.

Kevin Durant scored 32 points but fouled out for the sixth time in his career when he bumped Garland with 1:54 remaining. Durant also moved past Tim Duncan for 15th place on the all-time scoring list and ended the night at 26,516 career points.

Reserve T.J. Warren added a season-high 23 points as Brooklyn led for the final 42-plus minutes and shot 57.3 percent from the field.

Garland scored 18 of his points in the fourth, including a jumper in the lane that made it 121-117 with 44 seconds left. After two free throws by Irving, Garland was blocked in the lane by Nic Claxton with 31.3 seconds remaining and Warren hit two free throws to ice it with 13.8 ticks left.

While Garland made 14 of 20 shots and finished with his fourth 40-point game of his career, Donovan Mitchell was held to 15 points. Evan Mobley was held to 12 as Cleveland shot 47.6 percent and lost consecutive games for the first time since its five-game skid last month.

The Nets held a 34-22 lead through the opening quarter and ended the first half with a 21-6 run for a 65-49 lead by halftime.

Cleveland hung around in the third and cut the lead to 91-79 entering the fourth on Kevin Love’s putback with one second left. Irving hit a trey and had a three-point play in the opening 1:45 of the fourth as Brooklyn opened a 102-83 lead before Cleveland’s comeback try began.

–Field Level Media