Missing several bodies, the Hawks (13-37) limped to a 123-100 loss to the Mavericks (30-19) Saturday night.
Below are some takeaways from the loss:
1. In a game where the Hawks were already shorthanded, Cam Reddish left in the first quarter with a face contusion after taking a blow to the head and Trae Young exited midway through the third quarter with a right ankle sprain after chasing Dorian Finney-Smith back in transition. Neither were able to return to the game, and that left the Hawks without their best scorer (Young) and one of their best defenders (Reddish). Reddish entered concussion protocol to determine if he has a concussion and Young said he would get his ankle looked at Sunday to further assess his injury, but he was able to walk around postgame. Young left with the Hawks trailing by 21, and they never pulled within 15 in the fourth quarter. Although the Mavericks were playing on the second night of a back-to-back (having lost in Houston Friday), the Hawks didn’t have the depth or the energy to take advantage.
2. With Luka Doncic out for the Mavericks with a right ankle sprain, there could be no Doncic-Young battle of the All-Star starters, so this game already had a little less intrigue than originally anticipated (in the 2018 draft, the Hawks traded No. 3 pick Doncic for No. 5 pick Young plus a 2019 first-round pick, which became Reddish). Then, of course, Young left in the third with injury. The Mavericks were without their second-leading scorer, Kristaps Porzingis (17.2 points per game) in addition to their leading scorer Doncic (28.8 points per game), but the Hawks were extra shallow, missing Reddish, De'Andre Hunter (left ankle sprain) and eventually Young, along with a lot of size in center Bruno Fernando (left calf strain), Alex Len (right hip flexor strain) and Jabari Parker (right shoulder impingement). Having fewer options hurt the Hawks, but the Mavericks were in the same boat and came out on top. "Everybody doesn't have a healthy team," said Kevin Huerter, who finished with 20 points and three assists. "Obviously, they have their two best players out, so it's really no excuse on our end. We'd love to have (our injured guys) out there, but just like they did, obviously we've got to (play the) next man up."
3. In the first half, outside of a 15-5 run to start the first quarter and Huerter going 4-for-6 from 3-point range, the Hawks just couldn’t get much going (Huerter went 6-for-10 from 3 overall), with the Mavericks going on an 18-2 run in response. The Hawks cut a 16-point deficit to 10 close to halftime but were obliterated in the second half, trailing 90-66 at the 4:46 mark after back-to-back 3’s by Seth Curry. Overall, the Mavericks outscored the Hawks 35-23 in the third quarter and ran away with the game down the stretch. “I thought we weren’t mentally tough tonight,” Hawks coach Lloyd Pierce said. “We had a lot of mental lapses defensively, in the first half, I thought we were impatient offensively in the first half, and then the physical stuff started. Cam gets knocked, Trae gets hurt, and we were already down bodies, but we just weren’t mentally tough to start the game.”
4. The Mavericks couldn't miss from 3-point range, making twice the amount of 3-pointers as the Hawks (20-for-39, or 51.3%, compared to 10-for-30, or 30.3%). Curry went 5-for-7 from 3, and Finney-Smith and Maxi Kleber both went 4-for-7. Outside of Huerter, no Hawk hit multiple 3’s, which isn’t the biggest surprise considering the amount of shooters they were missing.
5. With 26 points (11-20 FG, 1-2 3-point range, 3-5 FT) John Collins registered his 12th double-double in 24 games played (missing 25 due to suspension), and was a bright spot on a struggling offense. In his last six games, Collins is averaging 24.6 points points and 12.2 rebounds.
By the numbers
27 (Mavericks sophomore guard Jalen Brunson set a season-high in points, to go with eight assists and four rebounds)
Quotable
“You just play whoever you can. And you feel how the game’s going. They’re in the same boat, they had a bunch of guys out, and they played small and they moved the basketball.” (Hawks coach Lloyd Pierce on managing the game with so few bodies)
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