Three Big Takeaways From Atlanta's 120-118 Loss to the Dallas Mavericks

The Atlanta Hawks battled back and forth with the Dallas Mavericks last night and had the lead with 1:46 to go, but could not finish the job. It was the second straight loss for the Hawks and their fourth in the last five games. It was another defensive struggle for the Hawks and with six games left, they have things they have to figure out.

Here are the biggest takeaways from last night's game.

1. The Hawks crunch time offense was not good enough

After Onyeka Okongwu got the lead for the Hawks with under two minutes remaining, it looked like the Hawks were going to find a way to win. However, the next few possessions were pretty rough. After Spencer Dinwiddie missed a shot for Dallas, Trae Young took the shot clock all the way down and settled for a tough shot that was nowhere close. After Klay Thompson tied the game at 118-118, a bad decision and pass from Dyson Daniels gave the ball back to Dallas and Anthony Davis hit the go-ahead basket with three seconds left. That is not a ton of time to get things going, but Young shooting a stepback three over Davis, one of the NBA's elite defenders, is not how you want it to go. There were other issues for the Hawks, but the late game offense cost them dearly.

2. The third quarter won the game for the Mavericks

Atlanta won every quarter except the third, and they lost that one by ten points. Atlanta got their lead up to 11 points in the third, but Anthony Davis scored 13 of his 34 points in the third, and Dallas shot nearly 70% from the field and were 4-5 from three. The Hawks' offense had been great for the first two quarters, but was slowed down by the Dallas defense in the third. A big run for the Mavericks hurt the Hawks and even though they had a chance to win at the end, a better third quarter would have meant avoiding a painful final two minutes on offense

3. The Hawks have lost their ground in the play-in race

Just a week ago, it looked like Atlanta was going to settle in as the No. 7 seed and host a play-in game with hopes of getting into the playoffs as the No. 7 seed. That is still possible, but now the Hawks are in 8th place behind the Orlando Magic and are one game ahead of Miami for 9th and two games ahead of Chicago for the No. 10 seed. Atlanta could be at any one of the four spots and it is no guarantee that they are going to make the playoffs either. There are some winnable games to finish the season, but Atlanta needs to snap out of their funk.

Additional Links

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

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

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