The Hawks (28-22) snapped a three game losing streak and completed a season sweep of the Dallas Mavericks (28-23) at Phillips Arena Monday night, winning 112-97.
The victory rested largely on the shoulders of Hawks’ guard Jeff Teague who scored 32 points — two short of his career high — grabbed five boards and made eight assists. Hawks’ Coach Mike Budenholzer pulled Teague from the game late in the fourth quarter, later joking he was unaware Teague had almost eclipsed a personal record.
“[We] made some shots, made some shots. When they go down, it’s a lot easier game,” Teague said.
Hawks’ forward Kyle Korver also stepped out of his current shooting slump, finishing with 16 points, shooting 4-7 from downtown.
The Mavs were simply unable to overcome the combination of Teague and Korver. Dallas struggled mightily in the first half, missing 23 of their first 29 shots. If that wasn’t enough, the Mavs lost guard Deron Williams early in the second quarter to a bruised hip.
“I thought there was a great energy on both ends,” Budenholzer said after the game. “Offensively, it was one of the better games for sure in the last little while. I thought Jeff really set the tone both attacking [and] shooting when he’s open and letting it fly.”
The Hawks maintained control of the matchup from early on, giving them a 16-point lead in the second quarter.
Mavs’ forward Dirk Nowitzki kept relatively quiet, as he was limited to 18 points (on 4 of 11 shooting). Mavs’ forward Chandler Parsons had 19 points and 11 boards, but Nowitzki and Parsons’ efforts were not enough to overcome the team’s struggles.
“I don’t think we played hard enough,” Nowitzki said. “They hit us with timely shots. Every time I felt we were down 5, 6 or 7, if [we] make one bad defensive mistake or a bad offensive shot, they turned that into a layup or a three, so I felt every time we made a mistake, they made us pay for it.”
The Mavericks and Hawks will both play again on Wednesday night as Dallas hosts Miami at the American Airlines Center and the Hawks travel to Philadelphia to take on the 76ers at the Wells Fargo Center.
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