Mavericks at Hawks
The Atlanta Hawks are faltering with five losses in six games and look
to reverse course when they host the Dallas Mavericks on Monday. Atlanta
was routed 105-87 by the Miami Heat on Sunday after losing by
19 points against the Indiana Pacers on Thursday.
Hawks All-Star power forward Paul Millsap scored 17 points against Miami despite an ankle injury and he views the team's slump as part of the ups and downs of an NBA campaign. "You have times like this during a season," Millsap told reporters. "I feel like we are struggling because we are trying to do the right thing, trying to make the right plays and trying to be perfect. That's putting a lot of pressure on us." Dallas allowed an average of 78.5 points while posting consecutive wins over Brooklyn and Phoenix and has won three of its past four games. The Mavericks rested power forward Dirk Nowitzki for the 91-78 win over the lowly Suns on the front end of a back-to-back so he would be fresh for the Hawks.
TV: 8 p.m. ET, FSN Southwest (Dallas), FSN Southeast (Atlanta)
ABOUT THE MAVERICKS (28-22): Point guard Deron Williams stepped up with Nowitzki resting and scored 27 points against the Suns, just three shy of his season high. "Everybody knows when Dirk is out we have to step up a little bit and fill his void scoring the basketball," Williams told reporters. "I was able to do that a little bit." One player who has been scoring consistently is small forward Chandler Parsons, who is averaging 22.1 points with four 20-point outings during the last eight games.
ABOUT THE HAWKS (27-22): There are 33 regular-season contests remaining and Atlanta already has matched last season's number of losses when it won 60 games as the top team in the Eastern Conference. The Hawks scored only 34 first-half points against the Heat while digging a 13-point deficit as the recent downturn continued. "We're trying to find ourselves right now and there isn't really much going our way," forward Kent Bazemore told reporters. "It is just a tough time right now. We just got to stick with it. It's just not our time right now, and we got to deal with it."
BUZZER BEATERS
1. The Hawks have won the past four meetings, including a 98-95 road victory Dec. 9.
2. Dallas SG Wesley Matthews is averaging 6.8 points on 10-of-36 shooting during a four-game funk.
3. Atlanta SG Kyle Korver missed all six shots in a scoreless outing against Miami and is 2-of-15 shooting in the past two games.