The Atlanta Hawks lost their third straight game, following a 129-119 loss to the Dallas Mavericks at home Monday night. Dallas was without star, Luka Doncic, which should be noted as it would have added another chapter into the Trae Young-Doncic connection.
Young finished with another double-double of 18 points and 16 assists. Jalen Johnson poured in 28 points and grabbed 11 boards for another double-double to his season tally. Dyson Daniels finished with 17 and Bogdan Bogdanovic added in 18 points on the night off the bench.
It was not enough to topple Dallas, who out-shot Atlanta 45.7% to 29.0% from three. Dallas also had a +12 advantage in the rebounding column, even though Atlanta actually dominated the points in the paint battle, 76-50.
Kyrie Irving was too much for the Hawks to handle as he finished with 32 points, albeit, not on the most efficient shooting split, going 11-of-28 from the field. He did shoot 6-of-13 from beyond the arc. The Mavs had three other scores go above the 20-point mark, with Spencer Dinwiddie adding 22 off the bench, Jaden Hardy for 23 and Naji Marshall with 22.
The Hawks next chance to get back on the winning wagon is against the league-best Cleveland Cavaliers. It will be a tall task in Cleveland as the Cavs are 10-0 at home, at sit comfortably at 17-1 as the best team in the NBA.
