Another failed Dallas Mavericks (21-43) comeback attempt, another dollar. The Mavericks dropped their eighth straight game and their 18th in the team’s last 20, 124-112, against the Atlanta Hawks (33-31) at State Farm Arena on Tuesday.
Nickeal Alexander-Walker led all scorers with 29 points for the Hawks in the win, and Jalen Johnson added 25 more, including 10 points in the fourth quarter. Klay Thompson made five 3-pointers on his way to 21 points for the Mavs in the loss.
Here are five stats that
tell the tale of Dallas’ latest comeback attempt that came up short in Atlanta.
40: First-quarter scoring by the Hawks
The Mavericks turned the ball over five times in the first quarter, with four of them coming in the game’s first 4:23. The Hawks sprinted out to an early 10-2 lead as a result and never looked back. They boat-raced the Mavericks throughout the rest of the first quarter, taking a 40-26 lead into the second. Atlanta shot 15-of-26 (57.7%) from the field in the first.
The Dallas defense was nonexistent on several Atlanta drives to the hoop, including one late in the first by Nickeal Alexander-Walker, who waltzed past all five Dallas defenders on his way to the hoop for an easy score that put the Hawks up 40-24 with 25 seconds left in the frame. Onyaka Okongwu led Atlanta with nine points on 2-of-3 shooting from 3-point range in the first quarter, while Brandon Williams matched him with nine off the bench for the Mavs on 3-of-3 shooting.
6-of-9: Dallas’ shooting start to second quarter
The Mavericks fought their way back to within four points of the lead in the first 5:30 of the second quarter. They shot 6-of-9 from the field to outscore Atlanta 13-5 to start the second. The Mavs extended that run to 17-5 before the Hawks responded.
The Hawks came into the game with the league’s No. 1 defensive rating (106.1) over the last month, but the Mavs bucked back to climb back in it after falling down by as many as 16 points in the first quarter. Max Christie finally nailed his first 3-pointer in five first-half attempts to cut the Hawks’ lead to four, 45-41, with 6:35 left in the second.
After Hawks head coach Quin Snyder called a timeout with 6:25 left in the second, Atlanta rattled off six straight quick points, including two transition baskets by Alexander-Walker, who seems to be a shoo-in for Most Improved Player this year. Alexander-Walker led all scorers with 14 points on 6-of-7 shooting as the Hawks took a 64-55 lead into the half.
1: Second-quarter shot attempt by Cooper Flagg
We thought we were done with this dilemma after Cooper Flagg’s explosive months of December and January, but the Mavs’ rookie star was nowhere to be found on the stat sheet in the second quarter. He got lost in an offense that more prominently featured the likes of Brandon Williams, Daniel Gafford and Marvin Bagley III.
Flagg grimaced a little on his way to the free-throw line after taking a foul from Jalen Johnson with 6:57 left in the second, but played through whatever ailed him after taking the contact. As noted above, the Hawks are a good defensive team, so maybe his second-quarter absence shouldn’t be that much of a concern, but Flagg needs to see the ball more in order to get out of the shooting funk he’s been in since returning to the lineup after missing eight games with a sprained left foot on Mar. 5 at the Orlando Magic. He came into the game shooting just 21-of-62 (33.9%) from the field in his three games back and shot 2-of-5 for six points in the first half on Tuesday.
Flagg’s funk continued in the second half as he missed his next five attempts, finishing with just 14 points on 6-of-16 shooting to go along with 12 rebounds in the loss. Nine of those 14 points came too little, too late in the game’s waning minutes.
20-6: Mavs’ late third-quarter run
The Mavericks made several runs at the Atlanta lead, but none of them were potent enough to take hold of the lead. Klay Thompson and Khris Middleton keyed a 20-9 Mavs’ spurt late in the third quarter to get to within 93-89, after the Hawks’ lead had ballooned to 15 points midway through the frame.
Thompson scored 10 points in the third quarter, all of which came during that 20-9 run. Atlanta survived the run to take a 95-91 lead into the fourth. Dallas outscored the Hawks 38-31 in the third to close the gap.
18: Second-half scoring from Klay Thompson
Thompson scored 18 of his 21 points in the second half, shooting the lights out from deep as the Mavs tried desperately to win just their third game in their last 20. But it just wasn’t enough as the Mavericks rack up their frequent flyer miles on their current road trip.
Thompson canned 4-of-7 from deep in the second half as Dallas clawed its way back, but Atlanta had an answer for every Mavericks run down the stretch. After a quiet start to the game, Jalen Johnson was the answer for the Hawks late in the game, as he scored 13 points in the fourth quarter to kill the Mavs’ momentum. Johnson finished with 24 points, seven assists and six rebounds in the win, while Thompson scored 21 for the Mavs in the loss.
