Mavericks Trample Over Hawks 97-84

All good things must come to an end! I guess that’s why we call them good things, if we had them all the time we would take them for granted! Well Saturday marked at least a temporary halt to the good times in Atlanta, as the Atlanta Hawks 5 game winning streak came to and end. Dallas Mavericks forward Dirk Nowitzki led his team with 22 points as the Mavericks built themselves a big lead in the first half, and held on in the second half to stop the high flying Hawks 97-84. Dallas was much more accurate from the floor on Saturday than they were against Cleveland Thursday night, they shot 43.8% from the field, 53.8% from outside the arc.

The Mavericks came out hot at the start of the game as they led Atlanta 34-21 at the end of the first quarter, and had a 54-35 lead as the two teams went to their respective locker rooms. The Hawks would not go away that easily, as they cut the lead down to 75-60 at the end of the third quarter, and made a serious run in the fourth. Atlanta got hot about midway through the period, and had the lead down to just 6 points, 82-76 after they went on a 12-1 run. However that was as close as they got as Dallas went on a 7-3 run to get the lead back up to 10 at 89-79 with just over 3:00 remaining.

Nowitzki shot 8-19 from the floor, hit 1-2 treys, and shot 5-6 from the line for a game high 22 points, 9 rebounds, 5 assists, 2 blocks, 2 steals. Josh Howard scored 19 points, 6 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal, Devin Harris also scored 19 points, 4 assists, 3 steals, 3 boards. Jason Terry scored 14 points off the bench, 2 steals, 1 assist, 1 rebound, and Erick Dampier had a double-double, 12 points, 10 boards, 3 blocks, 1 steal, 1 assist.

Atlanta forward Marvin Williams shot 6-12 from the floor, 6-7 from the line for a team high 18 points, he also grabbed 6 rebounds. Joe Johnson scored 17 points, 5 assists, 2 rebounds, Josh Smith scored 13 points, 8 rebounds, 6 blocks, 3 assists, 3 steals. Acie Law scored 12 points, 3 assists, 2 steals, and rookie Al Horford had a double-double, scoring 11 points, 10 boards, 2 steals, 1 block. Dallas after the win stands at 20-11, while Atlanta is 15-13.