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Kyrie Irving’s strong 4th quarter lifts Mavericks over Hawks, 129-119
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Kyrie Irving’s strong 4th quarter lifts Mavericks over Hawks, 129-119

The Dallas Mavericks played the second night of a row against the Atlanta Hawks on Monday. To make up for Sunday’s overtime loss to the Miami Heat, Dallas would have to shed a few key pieces, like they were without Luka Doncic, Klay Thompson, Quentin Grimes and Dante Exum.

With those absences, the Mavs started Kyrie Irving, Jaden Hardy, Naji Marshall and Dereck Lively II, while Atlanta started Trae Young, Dyson Daniels, Zaccharie Risacher, Jalen Johnson and Clint Capela.

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It took over two minutes for the Mavericks to finally get on the board as Naji Marshall raced down the lane for a lay-in. That slow start allowed Atlanta to take an early 12-4 lead, as Dyson Daniels and Jalen Johnson each had five points early. The Dallas offense was coming off a sluggish first game taking care of the basketball with eight turnovers in the first quarter, including three by Jaden Hardy. The floaters that were falling for PJ Washington a few games ago weren’t falling early, and Atlanta was constantly making shots, taking an 11-point lead late in the first quarter.

Atlanta took a 31-18 lead with a few minutes left in the quarter, but Dallas finished the game with a 10-0 run to bring the lead back to three points early in the second after a three-point basket by Naji Marshall at the end of the match.

The Mavericks scored nine points in the opening minutes of the second quarter to cut the Hawks’ lead to one following a Marshall corner kick; then Spencer Dinwiddie gave the Mavs their first lead of the game with two free throws at 39-38. Their run was fueled by getting to the free throw line and playing inside out.

Dallas took a six-point lead several times in the final six minutes of the second quarter, using strong defensive moments from Jaden Hardy, but they couldn’t build on that lead. With just over a minute to play, Atlanta tied the game on Jalen Johnson’s free throws, then Trae Young hit a floater to give the Hawks a 63-61 lead. It would be Atlanta that would close the quarter on a strong run this time, using a 12-0 run to take a 67-61 halftime lead.

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The Hawks immediately increased the lead to 11 to start the second half with Zaccharie Riscaher’s first five points of the game, which forced an early Jason Kidd timeout in the second half. But Dallas wouldn’t be dead yet despite the fact that Derek Lively II missed the rest of the game due to the same illness that kept Quentin Grimes sidelined and Kyrie Irving was listed as a questionable starter.

Sunday night’s villain became Monday night’s hero as Spencer Dinwiddie made three straight three-pointers and found PJ Washington under the basket to give Dallas an 88-86 lead with three minutes left in the quarter . At that point, he had 17 points on just six shot attempts, thanks to some early free throws, a complete turnaround from the performance he gave on Sunday. The Mavs would extend that to a 96-95 lead in the fourth quarter.

The lead rebounded during the opening minutes of the fourth quarter, with a Kyrie Irving three-and-out putting Dallas up 106-104 with 8:18 to play. Kyrie would hit two more triples to extend the lead to 115-107. Atlanta took a timeout, thinking it would calm them down, but all they did on the first possession after the timeout was a three off a dribble and a fade to their left.

Irving’s hot shooting became infectious when PJ Washington nailed a fake shot from the corner to extend Dallas’ lead to 121-111 with less than five minutes to play.

Atlanta would cut the lead to six with just over two minutes left, doing a good job getting quick buckets when they were needed. But Jaden Hardy hit a tough layup through contact, PJ Washington blocked a Trae Young layup and Irving would find himself wide open for a layup to extend the lead to 129-119 with 49.4 seconds left. play. That would be all she wrote for this one, with Dallas winning.

Kyrie Irving was deadly in the 4th quarter, scoring 16 of his 32 points in the final quarter to push Dallas to victory. But it wasn’t just him. Spencer Dinwiddie responded after a horrible game Sunday to score a season-high 22 points, Jaden Hardy scored a season-high 23 points and Naji Marshall scored 22 more points for his third straight 20-point game, the longest streak of his career. career.

Dallas shot 16/35 from three for the game, but shot 6/9 in the fourth quarter to get them to this one, while Atlanta was just 9/21 from deep.

Jalen Johnson led the Hawks with 28 points and 11 rebounds, Trae Young had 18 points and 16 assists, Bogdan Bogdanovic responded after a first-half foul to finish with 18 points and Dyson Daniels had 17 points.

The Mavericks return home to face the New York Knicks on Wednesday night, and Dallas is hoping the guys will be cured of their illnesses by then.

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