Notebook: Knicks 104, Mavericks 97

THE FACTS: Jeremy Lin continued his magical ride by tallying 28 points and 14 assists and J.R. Smith andSteve Novak combined for 29 points off the bench as the Knicks won for the eighth time in nine games, 104-97 over the defending NBA champion Dallas Mavericks at Madison Square Garden.

Dirk Nowitzki had a game-high 34 points for the Mavericks, who saw their six-game winning streak snapped.

Suiting up for the first time since signing with the Knicks on Friday after playing in China, Smith scored 15 points off the bench, going 3-for-9 from deep.

Novak scored all 14 of his points in the second half and went 4-for-5 from beyond the arc.

QUOTABLE: "The game that he had, that's ridiculous...The thing you can't teach is what's inside his heart. His heart is huge and you can't teach that." 
-- Knicks head coach Mike D'Antoni on Lin.

THE STAT: The Knicks' bench outscored the Mavs' bench, 33-23, and all three reserves were at least +17.Jared Jeffries and Novak were both +17, and Smith +21. Entering the game, D'Antoni wasn't sure if he was going to play Smith at all but inserted him after Iman Shumpert picked up two quick fouls.

QUOTABLE II: "With J.R. in there we kind of had no plays. I kind of liked it that way, it's hard to scout. I was waiting for another team to say, 'I got next.'" 
-- D'Antoni.

TURNING POINT: Trailing 80-78 midway through the fourth, the Knicks rattled off a 12-1 run keyed by four 3-pointers -- three from Novak and one from Lin -- to go ahead 90-81. They never relinquished the lead. After Dallas closed to within 95-93 on a Jason Terry 3-pointer with 3:26 left, Lin drained a deep shot of his own over Nowitzki to make it 98-93 with 2:52 remaining.

QUOTABLE III: "Novak was a big part of that [run]. He hit a big three. He's playing great. He's a great shooter." 
-- D'Antoni.

WHO'S HOT: Novak, the former Marquette star, has scored 14 points in two of his last games, wins over Sacramento and Dallas. He went 7-for-12 from deep in those games, sandwiched around a 2-for-9 shooting performance in Friday's loss to New Orleans.

WHO'S NOT: Lamar Odom went 1-for-6 for two points and six rebounds off the bench for Dallas. He went 2-for-5 for five points and three rebounds two nights ago in the win over Philadelphia.

QUOTABLE IV: "They're obviously a great defensive team, a great team altogether. You can't just win a championship by not being a great defensive team. We came out and we moved the ball and we had a lot of people that contributed tonight. Across the board the efficiency was there from everybody. When you play like that on offense and you have a lot of weapons, something's going to open up, something's going to give." 
-- Lin.

NOTABLE: Mike Sapraicone of Seaford, N.Y. banked in a half-court shot at the buzzer to win a Kia Optima.

NOTABLE II: Smith said he chose the Knicks over the Clippers and Lakers after talking to Carmelo Anthony"twice." The Garden State native loves D'Antoni's fast-paced system and wanted to play in front of family and friends in New York. "It was really a no-brainer," he said. "It was a perfect situation for me."

INSIDE THE ARENA: Eva Longoria, Kevin Costner, Mark Zuckerberg and Willie Randolph and Seth Meyerscaught the Linsanity courtside.

UP NEXT: For the Knicks, Monday vs. Nets, Wednesday vs. Hawks, Thursday @ Heat . For the Mavericks, Monday vs. Boston, Wednesday vs. Lakers, Feb. 28 vs. Nets.