The Hawks led for most of the game but let it slip away in the fourth quarter of their 118-117 loss to the Mavericks Wednesday in Dallas.
Next up, the Hawks (11-13) will host the Spurs Friday.
Below are some takeaways from the loss:
1. The Mavericks’ offense scorched the Hawks in the fourth quarter (37 points on 68.2% shooting, with seven 3′s), and Tim Hardaway Jr. led the way with 13 points. The Hawks entered the fourth with a 91-80 advantage before a 7-0 run by Hardaway pulled the Mavericks (12-14) within two and they later tied it at 101 off a 3-pointer by Hardaway.
With about a minute left, the Hawks trailed by one and took a timeout after Trae Young made a 3-pointer — they had a chance to win it with 4.7 seconds to play.
It seemed Kevin Huerter, inbounding the ball, had an open John Collins, but he ended up getting the ball to Danilo Gallinari, who missed a jumper to seal the loss:
“My next look after John would have been Trae, and Trae’s on the ground, and my third option is Gallo and then coming back to the ball, so obviously you look at the results and it’s not what we wanted, in hindsight, probably could have looked at John,” Huerter said. “But like I said, we have four seconds left, we had enough time to still get a shot, and it didn’t feel like he got the separation, and obviously you live with the results.”
2. The game ended in controversy as Young (who finished with a double-double of 25 points and 15 rebounds) set a screen on Willie Cauley-Stein and thought he was fouled, falling to the ground after contact was made.
No foul was called, though, which limited Huerter’s options when inbounding. In an interview with a pool reporter after the game, the referees deemed the contact “incidental.”
Young didn’t agree, though, and neither did Hawks coach Lloyd Pierce: “Really unfortunate that the game ended that way. Trae sets a great screen and it should’ve been a foul. We should have had the basketball after a free-throw on the side. Just disappointed in the way that game ended, but I thought our guys competed from start to finish.”
3. Collins continues to excel against Dallas, leading the Hawks with 33 points, to go with eight rebounds. In the loss to the Mavericks last week, Collins matched his career-high with 35 points, and he has now averaged 29.8 points over his last five games against Dallas.
4. Huerter added 23 points and went 4-for-7 from 3-point range. He’s on a hot 3-point shooting streak and is 54.5% from distance (18-33) over the past five games.
5. Center Clint Capela had a tough game, which ended his 19-game streak of double-digit rebounds, the longest streak in the league this season and the longest by a Hawks player since Dwight Howard (19 games in 2017, from Feb. 25 to April 2). Capela finished with six points and seven rebounds, with four turnovers, picking up his fourth foul early in the third quarter. Dallas did a job of spacing the Hawks out, Pierce said, which poses a challenge for Capela.
Stat of the game
37-27 (what the Mavericks outscored the Hawks by in the fourth quarter)
Star of the game
Luka Doncic of the Mavs (had a 28-point, 10-rebound, 10-assist triple double)
Quotable
“The play was for me to get the ball. I’m not going to run away from the ball with four seconds left and we’re trying to win a game. I’m not going to fall just to fall at the end. That’s just the most frustrating part, not having an opportunity to make a play at the end.” (Young on the final play)
