There was no Timofey Mozgov to bail out the Knicks last night. Instead, the European big man of the night was Germany’s Dirk Nowitzki, the Mavericks superstar who destroyed the Knicks for 29 points in 33 minutes in a 113-97 Garden rout.
It wasn’t as bad as last season’s 50-point Garden destruction by Dallas, but it was a sound beating nonetheless.
And suddenly, the Knicks (25-23) are hearing footsteps. The Sixers moved just three games behind the sixth-place Knicks, with the clubs engaging in a home-and-home starting tomorrow in Philadelphia.
“We’re going to have to be more aggressive on defense and get into people,” Knicks coach Mike D’Antoni said. “They’re older than we are but they didn’t seem to get tired. They outran us.”
The Mavericks ripped apart the Knicks to start the second half with a 26-6 run to build a 24-point lead with 4:47 left in the third.
Amar’e Stoudemire, after a solid 21-point first half, missing all five of his shots in a scoreless second half.
“I thought he ran out of steam,” D’Antoni said.
“I missed some shots, but the collective energy in the second half wasn’t great,” Stoudemire said. “We didn’t get stops. They got confidence and started making shots and pumping their chests. We didn’t get a rhythm.”
The final bleak scenes were of Danilo Gallinari getting stripped by Nowitzki on a late drive; the Russian rookie Mozgov blowing a dunk as the ball slipped from his hands and skipped out of bounds; and Mavs owner Mark Cuban, standing in the second row behind Dallas’ bench, high-fiving Nowitzki and his starters as they jogged to the bench with 2:36 left.
By then, the Garden crowd had grown so surly it booed pop singer Justin Bieber when he was shown on the scoreboard in oversized purple shades.
Gallinari, whom team president Donnie Walsh has compared with Nowitzki, finished with an efficient 27 points, making all 12 of his free throws. But he took just 14 shots, leading to concerns the Knicks aren’t going to him enough when he’s on.
“He’s not one of those guys who you clear it out and give him the ball, he has to find the flow and sometimes it finds him and sometimes it gets to other guys,” D’Antoni said.
The Knicks fell behind 17-8 after just 4:45, as the Mavs hit six of their first seven shots, with even journeyman Brian Cardinal burying an early trey.
The Knicks rallied to take a second-quarter lead but trailed 56-52 at halftime, mostly because Stoudemire was unstoppable. Stoudemire made 10 of 15 shots, driving at will.
What happened? Stoudemire said it wasn’t his knees. “I’m good to go,” he said.
Nowitzki kept burning it up — mostly with lovely jumpers.
“You got to expect for him to have those numbers because they go to him every single time down,” Stoudemire said. “You go to any player that much he will score 30. But he was efficient.”
The Mavericks also got a big game from backup point guard Jose Barea, who scored 22 points, sinking three of four 3-pointers, outscoring starter Jason Kidd, who finished with six points and 10 assists.
marc.berman@nypost.com