The hottest team in the NBA looks to make it 11 straight victories when the Atlanta Hawks visit the Dallas Mavericks Wednesday night.
Atlanta hasn’t won at least 11 in a row since winning a franchise-record 19 straight in 2014-2015.
Granted, Atlanta has played some of the teams in the bottom half of the NBA during this run, but the closest game in this run has been nine points and the streak has catapulted them into a tie for eighth in the Eastern Conference standings, just 1 1/2 games back of fifth place.
Atlanta thumped the Magic 124-112 Monday night, getting a career-high 41 points from Nickeil Alexander-Walker and a second straight triple-double from All-Star Jalen Johnson.
“Sometimes, you just have nights like this,” Alexander-Walker said. “And I think the focus truly was just about being aggressive at the right time. It was an important game, and I knew that I just had to come out and give my all. That was the only thing on my mind, be aggressive, be myself, try to help the team win.”
Hawks guard CJ McCollum was inserted in the starting lineup Feb. 22 against Brooklyn, the same night the win streak started. McCollum has averaged 18.3 points since coming over to Atlanta from Washington in a trade.
“We’ve been through a lot of ups and downs, the team has looked different at times,” Johnson said. “But we’ve remained together. That’s allowed us to stack these wins (and) go on a win streak like this. The little things we’ve been doing off the court and in practice, this is the result.”
While Atlanta has been rising, the Mavericks have been sinking in the West. Dallas has lost 10 of its last 12 games and 20 of its last 24.
The biggest positive has been the development of 19-year-old rookie Cooper Flagg, who has averaged 18.9 points since coming back from an injury March 5.
Dallas just finished a stretch of nine games in nine different cities over a 14-day span. Dallas looked tired in Monday’s loss to New Orleans. The Mavs led by 10 early, but collapsed and fell 129-111.
“Yeah, we were really good there in the first five minutes,” Mavericks coach Jason Kidd told Mavs.com. “The ball was moving, P. J. (Washington) was shooting the ball. We had good looks that just didn’t go down for us after that stretch.”
“We were just moving the ball,” said Flagg, who finished with 21 points, eight assists, seven rebounds and two steals. “I thought we played with great pace out the gate early and I thought the ball had a lot of energy just moving around out there.”
The Mavericks played Monday without Caleb Martinn (foot), Klay Thompson (rest) or Brandon Williams (concussion). Thompson is set to play, while Williams is doubtful and Martin is questionable.
The offense has struggled all season, ranking 24th in the NBA at 113.2 points per game.
Dallas has won four of the last five meetings, but Atlanta downed the Mavericks 124-112 on March 10. Alexander-Walker had 29 points in that win.
