Kent Bazemore put the exclamation point on quite a comeback victory.
After trailing by as many as 26 points, the Hawks rallied for a 111-04 win over the Mavericks Wednesday night in the home opener.
Bazemore drove a vacated lane for a dunk with 1:06 remaining that gave the Hawks a 105-101 lead. The emphatic slam accounted for two of his game- and career-high 32 points.
“I haven’t seen that since high school, the Red Sea parted,” Bazemore said. “It’s just a testament to guys executing well. Vince Carter was talking about the play after the game. He just went to the baseline to set a screen and his man went. I turned the corner and I had the easy part. It’s good when guys are moving. … It was a testament to guys moving and the ball moving.”
Bazemore finished 12 of 22 from the field, including 3 of 11 from 3-point range. He added seven assists.
The Hawks outscored the Mavericks 18-9 over the final 5:13 when Trae Young made three free throws to give Atlanta its first lead of the game. The Hawks got within one point twice and two points once until that fourth-quarter mark as they couldn’t quite erase that big early deficit.
That the Hawks found themselves in an early hole was not the plan – again. For the second straight game they fell behind by 20 points, being outscored 42-22 in the first quarter. From there the Hawks’ defense tightened. The allowed 16 points in the second quarter and 17 in the fourth quarter.
“Coach used a great word after the game,” Bazemore said. “Resilience. For me, it’s part of my non-profit. It’s a word I love.”
The Hawks got 24 points from Taurean Prince, 17 points from Young, including 12 in the fourth quarter and 16 rebounds from DeAndre Bembry (his previous career-high was seven).
Hawks coach Lloyd Pierce credited Bazemore for his offense, even as he defended the Mavericks’ Wesley Matthews, who finished with a team-high 23 points.
“I thought his penetration, his mentality offensively of getting into the paint and causing havoc at the rim was really what got him going,” Pierce said.
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