Anthony Davis Has A Huge Game For The Dallas Mavericks and Sends Atlanta Home With Another Loss

In a battle of two play-in teams from opposite conferences, the Dallas Mavericks came out on top against the Atlanta Hawks 120-118 in a thriller. Atlanta appeared to have the win after taking a late lead, but Anthony Davis' game-winner with 3.4 seconds left lifted Dallas past Atlanta and gave the Hawks their fourth loss in the last five games.

Trae Young led the Hawks tonight with 25 points and 12 assists, Onyeka Okongwu had a good night with 20 points and 14 rebounds, Dyson Daniels scored 17 points and had five assists and six rebounds to go along with those points, and Caris LeVert had 14. A big thing in this game was the Mavericks scoring 19 points off of 11 Atlanta turnovers. Between that, the crunch time offensive decisions, and big third quarter run from Dallas, Atlanta let a winnable game slip away, something they can't afford to do in such a tight play-in tournament race.

The Hawks defense was not fantastic in this game, allowing Dallas to shoot 53% from the field and 46% from three. Davis had 34 points and 15 rebounds, while Klay Thompson was the second leading scorer for Dallas with 17 points.

This loss moves Atlanta to 36-40 and they are in 8th place in the Eastern Conference, but not by much. They are a half game behind Orland for 7th, one game ahead of Miami for 9th, and two games ahead of Chicago for 10th with six games to go. The Hawks will be back at home on Saturday against the New York Knicks.

The Hawks kept the same starting lineup tonight of Trae Young, Dyson Daniels, Zaccharie Risacher, Mouhamed Gueye, and Onyeka Okongwu.

The two teams exchanged baskets to start the game, with Anthony Davis and Gueye scoring seven early points and Dallas getting an early 16-13 lead, aided by three turnovers from Atlanta. The Hawks responded with a 12-3 run to take a 25-19 lead and were getting help from everyone, including the bench. LeVert came off the bench to hit a three, followed by a three from Krejci.

L3v3rt & Kr3jci 💦💦 pic.twitter.com/uAScfhJnPT
— Atlanta Hawks (@ATLHawks) April 3, 2025

It was a big first quarter for Anthony Davis, who was able to play tonight for Dallas. He scored 13 points and pulled in six rebounds, doing it all for Dallas. Despite that, the Hawks led 34-32 at the end of the quarter and were 4-9 from three to start the game.

The second quarter started with a 13-7 run for Atlanta and Dallas head coach Jason Kidd called a timeout with the Hawks lead now 47-39.

While the first quarter was the big quarter for Davis, the second quarter belonged to Trae Young. Young scored 16 of his 21 first-half points in the second, and Atlanta scored 38 points on the Mavericks' defense. Atlanta's defense still gave up 35 points in the quarter to Dallas, allowing them to shoot 6-9 from three, and the Mavs only trailed 72-67 going into the break.

Tried to wrap Trae up and it didn't matter 😂 pic.twitter.com/GaC7cJCE04
— Atlanta Hawks (@ATLHawks) April 3, 2025

In the first half, the Hawks were shooting 53% from the field and 41% from three. Aside from Young's 21 points and six assists, Atlanta got 12 points and six rebounds from Onyeka Okongwu and 10 points from Caris LeVert. The Hawks scored 11 points on six Dallas turnovers.

It was not a bad first half for the Mavs, as they shot 52% from the field and 47% from three, the second quarter really helping those numbers. Davis was the only player on the Mavs who was in double digits, scoring 15 points.

Davis came out firing on all cylinders in the third though. After the Hawks went up by 11, Davis scored eight straight points to cut the lead to 81-78 and Quin Snyder called a timeout to calm things down.

Dallas started putting more pressure on Young in the backcourt and it was working in the third quarter. Dallas kept pushing the Hawks and Jaden Hardy hit a three to take the lead with 2:49 left in the quarter, followed by an and-one from Max Christie to push the lead to four points. The run went to 9-0 for the Mavs to get the lead up to six points before Young drew a foul and got some points for Atlanta. A three from Vit Krejci cut the lead to two, but Hardy came back on the other end and hit one to give Dallas a 101-96 lead going to the fourth. The Mavs' offense was awesome in the third, while the Hawks only shot 31%.

QUICK release for Three-sacher pic.twitter.com/GENSCKxCOl
— Atlanta Hawks (@ATLHawks) April 3, 2025

Atlanta could have used a quick start to the quarter, but they got the opposite. Davis hit a basket, Thompson nailed a three, and then Davis caught a lob attempt to push the lead to 12 points and the Mavs started the fourth on a 7-0 run.

The Hawks responded though. A big three from Terance Mann, a floater from Young, and a three from Niang got the Hawks on an 8-2 run and cut the lead to five when Kidd took a timeout.

The run extended to 14-6 and Atlanta trailed by three, but five straight empty possessions and a basket from Thompson gave Dallas a five point lead with 3:36 left in the game. It was crunch time for the Hawks and they needed a run.

Out of the timeout, Okongwu got an and-one and cut the lead to two and then the Mavs turned it over. After a Dinwiddie miss, Daniels gave the Hawks the lead back with a three and then Okongwu got another basket to stretch the lead to three. After Dinwiddie missed a third straight shot, the Hawks could not make it a two possession game and that led to Klay Thompson tying the game with 41 seconds left.

Instead of hitting a shot to take the lead, Atlanta turned it over and Dallas took over with no shot clock and a chance to win the game. With 7.7 second left, the Mavs got the ball in to Davis and he hit a runner over Okongwu to give Dallas a 120-118 lead with 3.4 seconds remaining. The Hawks got the ball to Young, but his three-point attempt over Davis fell short and Dallas won the game.

Additional Links

Atlanta Hawks vs Dallas Mavericks: Starting Lineups For Tonight's Game

Trae Young's Status Revealed For Tonight's Game vs the Mavericks

Anthony Davis and Dereck Lively's Status Revealed For Tonight's Game vs Atlanta