Picks and Final Score Predictions For Hawks vs Mavericks Matchup

The Atlanta Hawks aim to make it seven straight tonight when they face the Dallas Mavericks.

Atlanta comes into this game tied with the Oklahoma City Thunder for longest winning streak in the NBA and the Hawks are battling to move up in the Eastern Conference standings. This is their first matchup of the season with Dallas and the Mavericks are a much different team than they thought they would be at the beginning of the year.

Who wins?

When the Mavericks won the NBA Draft Lottery last May, it gave them a golden ticket out of the horrible Luka Doncic trade and potentially set them up for the future with Cooper Flagg, who has been every bit as dominant as advertised. Flagg looks like the potential superstar that he was billed to be when he was coming out of Duke and he is going to be the focal point of the Dallas attack tonight.

Coming into the season, Dallas was hoping to pair Flagg alongside Kyrie Irving and Anthony Davis and try to contend in the Western Conference right away. Due to injuries, that did not work out and Davis was traded at last month's deadline and Irving has already been ruled out for the season. On top of that, young center Dereck Lively III is also out for the season. This has put more of a burden on Flagg's shoulders and to his credit, he is responding well.

Shutting Flagg down and keeping Daniel Gafford off the boards tonight should be the Hawks main goal tonight. Dallas is one of the ten best rebounding teams in the NBA and if the Hawks were to lose this game, losing the possession battle is one way to do it. Dallas is not a good three point shooting team (27th in 3P%) and the defend the three well (2nd in three point percentage allowed). The Hawks are 7th in 3P% and take a lot of attempts as well. They could overwhelm Dallas with their shooting tonight.

A big question for the Hawks is the status of Jonathan Kuminga, who is questionable once again coming into this game. After playing in three straight contests, Kuminga has not played since a March 1st victory over Portland. He has been dealing with left knee inflammation and now a left knee bone bruise. While the Hawks are still a superior team to the Mavericks, they would get a boost if Kuminga is able to play tonight.

The Hawks know the importance of taking advantage of matchups against the lesser teams in the league down the stretch of this season. Atlanta has dreams of getting into the top six of the Eastern Conference and out of the play-in tournament and winning games is one way to do that.

Dallas does not have the offense to keep up with the Hawks at home and barring a big night from Flagg or an unexpected scoring night from Kris Middleton or Klay Thompson, Atlanta wins its seventh straight and keeps the momentum rolling.

Final Score: Hawks 119, Dallas 107