DALLAS -- The Hawks stretched their winning streak to four games with their 130-122 win over the Mavericks on Wednesday night. It’s the first time this season the Hawks have won four straight games.
Here are five observations.
1. The Hawks have continued to remain focused down the stretch despite the pushes from their opponents. The Mavs took a 73-72 lead on a Luka Doncic jumper with 8:53 remaining in the third quarter as the Hawks got off to a slow start coming out of the half.
They honed in on Doncic but Spencer Dinwidde, Christian Wood and some of the other members of the Mavericks’ rotation pushed through. Dallas eventually got out to an 83-73 lead with 6:42 left in the third quarter.
The Hawks, dealing with some foul trouble, did not panic and did not let the questionable calls phase them.
Dejounte Murray scored a pair of 3-pointers before Bogdan Bogdanovic pulled up for a 26-foot jumper. Then the Hawks got a pair of stops on a Dallas shot-clock violation and a Doncic travel, which they capitalized on with a John Collins dunk off a lob from Trae Young that brought the game within 3 in the third.
They continued to fight until the end as the Mavericks tried to claw back all the way to the final two-and-half minutes. But the Hawks eventually shut down the Mavs, holding them to 0-of-7 shooting down the stretch.
2. The Hawks have continued to see some strong play from guard Murray on both sides of the ball. He proved to be the hot hand and played steadily throughout the night.
Murray scored 11 points by the end of the first half and continued to provide the Hawks with plenty of offense in each of his stints. In 38 minutes, Murray scored 30 points, the third straight game he has netted 27 or more points. He’s averaging 28.5 points over the three games.
On top of that, Murray continued to give the Hawks plenty on the defensive end. With ten minutes to play in the third quarter, De’Andre Hunter picked up his fourth foul and the Hawks switched Murray onto Doncic.
In the second half, Murray held Doncic to 11 points after the Dallas star had gone off for 19 in the first half.
One of the reasons the Hawks brought Murray aboard was to give them a strong defender who could bolster their presence on that side of the ball.
“Obviously, you’ve got a bunch of great talent around this league,” Murray said. “And (Luka’s) one of them in the MVP conversation right now, a great player, a great talent, a great leader. And, for me, just like I always continue to preach each and every game we play, whoever the guy is, I just try to make it tough for them. And, you know, ‘Dre was on him to start off and got in foul trouble. And I just made it hard for him and it worked in our (favor) to win the game.”
3. The Hawks continued to share the ball as they have over the last four games and continued to have balanced scoring throughout the front and backcourts. The Hawks found the right looks thanks to Young’s solid reads throughout the night.
Young had a quiet night scoring-wise with 18 points, but his looks to teammates made a huge impact on the game with his 12 assists accounting for 27 of the Hawks’ points.
He has averaged 10 assists per game over the last four games and he along with Murray have gotten everyone involved. Over the last four games, the Hawks have had four to seven players end games in double-figures. On Wednesday night, all eight players who logged more than 20 minutes notched 10 or more points.
“I think Trae is really doing a nice job of when we have a hot hand, he’s feeding the hot hand and he’s allowing those guys who are knocking down shots to play with the basketball,” Hawks coach Nate McMillan said. “DJ (Murray) had it going tonight and Trae was calling his number down the stretch when I put those two back in the game. These are the things that we were looking for, or have been looking for with DJ and Trae. There are gonna be some nights when Trae has it going, and we want to feed the hot hand.”
4. The Hawks got out to a quick start and built up an eight-point lead with four minutes left in the first quarter. For much of that frame, the Hawks did a solid job of defending the Mavericks and doing so without sending them to the free-throw line.
They did not send Doncic to the line until there was just under six minutes remaining in the first. But once the Slovenian guard got going, they ended up putting him at the free-throw line six times in the first quarter.
Doncic ended up making 10 of his 12 free-throw attempts, which helped the Mavericks get out on a run.
This season the Hawks have averaged 19.4 personal fouls per game, the seventh-fewest in the league. Over the last four games, with their intensity up on the defensive end, they have picked up 21 personal fouls per game.
5. The Hawks moved up to eighth in the Eastern Conference and will have an important matchup against the Knicks Friday. They sit 1-1/2 games behind New York and the Heat and they have one win over each team.
Stat to know
800 -- With his first 3-pointer, Bogdan Bogdanovic hit 800 in his career.
Quotable
“No, I think it’s just, some nights, you’re gonna knock down some shots, and there gonna be some nights where they don’t fall for you. We have him out there for that reason. We want him to shoot the basketball. He does a good job of stretching, spacing the floor, you know, you have to respect the fact that he is out on the floor. And, I still feel the shots that he has taken are going to fall.” -- Nate McMillan on if Bogdan Bogdanovic had tired legs.
Up next
The Hawks return home for back-to-back games against the Knicks and Hornets on Friday and Saturday.
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