The Atlanta Hawks continued their hot stretch and jumped on the Dallas Mavericks from the opening tip and rolled onto a 105-102 win.
One couldn't tell the Hawks were missing their leading scorer Jeff Teague by the way they were able to play so efficiently on offense. The Hawks shot 49.4 percent from the field and had 26 assists on 40 made field goals.
Dennis Schroder started at point guard for the injured Teague and led the Hawks in scoring with 22 points on 9-for-15 shooting. Al Horford and Paul Millsap gave the Mavericks defense headaches all night long with their mid-range shots, as they scored a combined 30 points to go along with 19 rebounds. All five Atlanta starters scored in double figures and displayed a very balanced offensive attack.
Monta Ellis led the Mavericks in scoring with 18 points but struggled for most of the night until the fourth quarter when he scored 11 in a last minute comeback effort.
The Hawks led by as much as 24 points late in the third quarter until the Mavs second unit, led by Charlie Villanueva, cut the lead down to 15 with nine minutes left in the fourth quarter. The Mavs would cut the lead to nine with just over a minute left, but it was too little too late.
The Mavericks wound up losing by only three points thanks to some late threes to the end the game, but the game wasn't as close as the score indicated. The Mavs struggled all night to get into a rhythm offensively and shot 43 percent from the floor.
Rajon Rondo posted his first double-double in a Mavs uniform with 13 points and 11 assists. He looked more comfortable than he did against the San Antonio Spurs Saturday night, although it was clear some of his teammates will need to adjust to some of Rondo's highlight passes. Tyson Chandler led everyone with 19 rebounds and nearly had his third 20-rebound performance on the season.
The Dallas Mavericks will now fly out to Phoenix to face the Suns who took the first matchup between these two teams earlier in the season at American Airlines Center, 118-106.
