Powered by 24 points by CJ McCollum and 22 from Nickeil Alexander-Walker, the visiting Atlanta Hawks soared to their 11th straight win, taking down the Dallas Mavericks 135-120 on Wednesday night.
Atlanta’s win streak is the longest by any NBA team this season. It is also the longest win streak for the Hawks (38-31) since they won a franchise-record 19 in a row in the 2014-15 season.
Dyson Daniels added 19 points and Jalen Johnson finished an assist shy of a triple-double, contributing 17 points, 11 rebounds and nine assists for the visitors.
It was the 10th straight loss at home for Dallas (23-47), which committed 18 turnovers and never led.
The Mavericks were led by Daniel Gafford, who had 24 points off the bench on 9-of-10 shooting from the field. PJ Washington had 23 points and Cooper Flagg had 17 but committed a game-high six turnovers.
Atlanta’s Onyeka Okongwu scored the game’s first 10 points, including two 3-pointers – one of which he banked in – and the Hawks were off and running.
Dallas trimmed the lead to two after a three-point play by Gafford with 5:12 left in the first, but Atlanta pushed the lead back up to 37-30 after one quarter.
Atlanta opened the second quarter on a 7-0 run featuring a three by Jock Landale and a jumper in the lane by Zaccharie Riscacher. The lead remained in double digits most of the quarter and Atlanta led 67-56 at halftime.
McCollum opened the second half with a three-point play and Dallas never made any real run to close the gap.
The highlight of the third quarter came in the final seconds. Jonathan Kuminga rebounded a Mavericks miss and took one step toward his own foul line before firing what appeared to be a long pass down the court toward Landale. But instead of it being a pass, it went straight through the basket for a 75-foot 3-pointer. Kaminga finished with 16 points in 18 minutes off the bench.
Atlanta led by as much as 21 and the lead remained in double digits for the entire fourth quarter.
The Hawks and Miami Heat are a half-game back of the Orlando Magic for the sixth spot in the Eastern Conference.
–Field Level Media
