The Atlanta Hawks were back in action on Tuesday evening to face the Dallas Mavericks. The Hawks came into this game with six straight wins, and they had a good chance to make it seven against a young team that hasn’t played well this season.
The Hawks were once again without Jonathan Kuminga, as he’s dealing with the bone bruise that forced him to miss time when he was first traded.
It was a fast start for the Hawks as they came out on a 10-2 run before Jason Kidd called a timeout. Onyeka Okongwu
started it off with a three-pointer.
Zaccharie Risacher came in and got to the rim.
The Hawks turned defense into offense early, and an Okongwu block got Nickeil Alexander-Walker an easy bucket on the other end.
Alexander-Walker knocked down a three-pointer later in the quarter to extend the Hawks’ lead.
Going into the second quarter, the Hawks led 40-26.
It was not a strong start to the quarter for the Hawks, and the Mavericks started to find a rhythm through the process. The Mavericks ended up cutting their deficit to four points, and after a timeout, the Hawks got back into the driver’s seat.
The Hawks extended their lead back to double digits midway through the quarter as they got a few stops and started finding easy shots on offense.
Alexander-Walker was key in the quarter, as he led the way with seven points and was perfect from the field.
Going into halftime, the Hawks led 64-55.
Alexander-Walker continued his hot shooting in the third.
Not too soon after, he found Dyson Daniels for a big dunk.
The ball kept moving in the third, and more dunks were thrown down, this time courtesy of Jalen Johnson.
The Hawks built a 15-point lead midway through the quarter, but the Mavericks with several three-pointers from Khris Middleton and Klay Thompson.
Going into the fourth, the Hawks still had the lead, but only by four points.
The Mavericks tied the game early in the fourth, as they continued to get contributions from Middleton and Thompson. After the tie, Johnson came down and got an and-one.
Johnson kept it going, knocking down a three-pointer to extend their lead.
The threes kept falling at the right time, this one by Okongwu.
The Hawks didn’t look back from there, and they were able to lock in when they needed to the most and come away with the win.
Alexander-Walker put the lid on the game with this three-pointer.
Alexander-Walker finished with 29 points, Johnson finished with 27 points, seven rebounds, and eight assists, Okongwu finished with 18 points and 10 rebounds, and Daniels finished with 14 points and 10 assists.
The Hawks will be back in action on Thursday against the Brooklyn Nets.
