Hawks Offense Goes Cold in The Second Half and Atlanta Falls on The Road To Dallas 109-95
The Hawks were in a really tough spot coming into this game, but they should be kicking themselves for not making this more of a game tonight.
Atlanta was on the second night of a back-to-back, on the road vs one of the hottest teams in the league, and facing Luka Doncic, who is making a good case as to why he should be the MVP this year. Atlanta had a lot of things working against them in this game, but they still had multiple chances to try and cut into a Dallas lead in the second half, but the offense only scored 14 points in the fourth quarter and the Hawks shot 5-20 from the field, including 2-12 from three. Atlanta now falls back to a half game behind the Chicago Bulls for the No. 9 spot in the Eastern Conference and have a tough game on the road in Denver awaiting them on Saturday.
Over the past couple of games, Atlanta has been able to get a big game from someone, but they could not find that player tonight. One night after getting his first triple-double, Jalen Johnson had a rough game shooting the ball. Dejounte Murray could not find a rhythm tonight, and Clint Capela could not make an impact.
It was a tough spot, but Atlanta had chances to get a surprise win on the road vs one of the NBA's best teams.
Let's recap tonight's game in Dallas.
The starting five for the Hawks was the same as it was last night vs Detroit. Dejounte Murray, Bogdan Bogdanovic, De'Andre Hunter, Jalen Johnson, and Clint Capela.
Dallas went with Luka Doncic, Kyrie Irving, Derrick Jones, P.J. Washington, and Daniel Gafford.
You might have expected the Hawks to come out flat considering they were the team that was on the second night of a back-to-back, but Atlanta was the team that came out strong, not Dallas.
The Hawks offense came out firing in the first quarter, shooting 56% from the field and 43% from three. Hunter scored eight points and Murray had seven. The bench rotation was the as expected, with Bruno Fernando, Garrison Matthews, Kobe Bufkin, and Vit Krejci coming off the bench.
After scoring 73 points in the first matchup with the Hawks this season, Doncic was held scoreless in the first quarter, shooting 0-5 from the field. The Mavs offenses was picked up with eight points each from Irving and Washington. Maxi Kleber also came off the bench to score seven points. Dallas is one of the top three-point shooting teams in the NBA, but they were only 4-13 in the first quarter. Atlanta led 31-25 going into the second.
That is when Doncic awakened and looked like the MVP candidate that he is. The Hawks also looked like a team that was playing on the second night of a back-to-back.
Dallas would outscore Atlanta 41-26 in the second quarter and went on a 10-0 run to take a 65-57 lead in the half. Doncic scored 16 points in the quarter and Irving had eight. Dallas was much better from three, shooting 7-15 from three.
It was a really bad first half from Bogdanovic, whos scored zero points and was 0-6 from the field. They did get a huge first half and second quarter from Matthews, who scored 12 in the second quarter to finish with 14 first half points and he was 3-3 from the field.
In the first half, Atlanta shot 44% from the field and 39% from three. Matthews led the way with 14, Murray had 13 points, and Hunter had 10 points.
Dallas shot 45% from the field and 39% from three. Doncic and Irving had 16 points each and Washington had 13 points.
The third quarter saw Bogdanovic finally get going on the offensive end, but the Hawks could not cut into the Mavericks lead. Bogdanovic scored 13 in the third quarter, but the rest of the team combined for only 11 in the quarter.
Dallas shot 5-9 from three and led by as much asa 17 in the game, but the Hawks did a decent job to close out the quarter and only trailed by 12 going into the final frame.
The final frame started with one heck of sequence from Atlanta's promising rooking Kobe Bufkin. Bufkin nailed a three and then played great defense on Irving on the other end.
This was one of the ugliest fourth quarters that you will see from any team. Dallas only scored 16 points in the final quarter, yet they somehow outscored Atlanta, who only had 14 points. Not only that, but the Mavs outscored the Hawks 7-2 in the final 5:58 of the game.
Yes, the Hawks only scored two points in the final 5:58 of the game. When I say that Atlanta had their chances, this is what I mean. If the Hawks play that well on defense, they win most nights. This was not one of those nights though as Atlanta shot 5-20 from the field in the fourth quarter and 2-12 from three. The Mavericks won 109-95 and Atlanta lost a tough game on the road.
It was a tough night offensively for the Hawks. They shot 40% from the field and 34% from three. After not scoring in the first half, Bogdanovic would end up leading the Hawks in scoring with 17 points. Murray scored 16, Hunter 13, Fernando 10, and Matthews would finish with 14, not scoring in the second half. Bufkin would finish with nine points an played one of his most solid games as a pro.
Dallas, who is one of the NBA's best offenses, did not have a great night themselves on offenses. The Mavs shot 40% from the field and 37% from three. Irving had 26 points, Doncic had 25, and Washington had 19.
The Hawks fall to a half game behind the Bulls for No. 9.
Atlanta's schedule is not getting any easier either. They will travel to Denver for a matchup with Nikola Jokic and the Nuggets on Saturday night at 9:00 p.m.
