The Hawks hope Monday night’s meeting with the visiting Dallas Mavericks has a different result than the last time the teams matched up in Atlanta.
On Jan. 26 of last season, superstar Luka Doncic scored 73 points in the Mavericks’ 148-143 win.
Doncic, who was traded for Atlanta point guard Trae Young on draft night in 2018, will miss Monday’s game with a wrist injury sustained in last Tuesday’s win over the New Orleans Pelicans. Fortunately for Dallas, the injury shouldn’t sideline Doncic for extended time.
Monday’s contest will serve as the Mavericks’ final game of a three-city road trip. Dallas saw its four-game winning streak end with a 123-118 overtime loss to the Miami Heat on Sunday.
Dallas was nursing a two-point lead before Jimmy Butler’s dunk with 4.1 seconds remaining in regulation. The Heat held the Mavericks without a point for the final 3:21 of overtime.
For Dallas coach Jason Kidd, understanding how to play without Doncic could benefit the team in the long run.
“You never know who’s gonna have foul trouble or an injury,” Kidd said. “The bench has been in the positive since Luka’s been out, but unfortunately that wasn’t the case tonight. You just never know who’s going to be able to play, and this is a great lesson learned for all of us.”
Doncic’s average of 28.1 points per game ranks eighth in the NBA. Kyrie Irving, who led the way on Sunday with 27 points, is second on the team with 24.1 points per contest.
The Hawks haven’t played since Friday, when they lost 136-122 to the Chicago Bulls. Young and Jalen Johnson each scored 25 points for Atlanta, which allowed the Bulls to shoot 57 percent from the field and 44.2 percent on 3-pointers. In an all-around effort, Chicago also made 19 of 21 free throws in the offensive barrage.
Atlanta’s 120.5 points per game allowed are third most in the league, an area of concern for the club.
“When you play a team that puts up 50-40-90, those are Hall of Fame numbers,” Hawks coach Quin Snyder said. “That’s not to say you can’t do more. We could have contested better, we could have kept them out of the paint more. I thought that was a big part of the game, as well as our inability to score at times.”
Following a 2-0 start to the season, the Hawks haven’t been able to reach the .500 mark since Oct. 28. Atlanta is vying to avoid dropping three in a row for the first time since that stretch.
Young paces the Hawks with 22.1 ppg and an NBA-best 11.7 assists per game. Johnson follows with 19.4 points per contest and a team-high 10.4 rebounds. Dyson Daniels, one of the lone bright spots for a struggling defense, leads the league with 3.2 steals per game.
