Mavericks at Hawks
The road has been anything but kind this season to the Dallas Mavericks, who travel to the Atlanta Hawks on Wednesday sporting an 8-21 mark away from home – including eight losses in nine games at Eastern Conference foes. Dallas has lost three road games in a row but enters Wednesday off back-to-back home victories over New Orleans and Miami, keeping the Mavericks within two games of the final Western Conference playoff spot.
Seth Curry continues to spark the Dallas offense, averaging 21.5 points across his past four games while hitting at least three 3-pointers in each contest. The Hawks return home after a stirring road victory Monday at Boston, pulling away from the Celtics after Dwight Howard’s third-quarter ejection to snap a three-game losing streak. Dennis Schroder scored 21 points, the 22nd time in 58 games Atlanta’s point guard has scored 20 or more points. The Hawks hit 11-of-22 3-point attempts to beat the Mavericks in the first meeting of the season, a 97-82 victory in Dallas on Jan. 7.
TV: 7:30 p.m. ET, FSN Southwest (Dallas), FSN Southeast (Atlanta)
ABOUT THE MAVERICKS (24-35): Dallas, which plays five games in a row at home after visiting Atlanta, leads the NBA in fewest turnovers per game (11.1) but is last in the NBA in scoring (97.8). Harrison Barnes leads the Mavericks in scoring, averaging a career-high 20.1 points per game while shooting 47.6 percent from the field. Dirk Nowitzki sits 59 points away from reaching 30,000 for his career, and scored 18 points or more in five of his past seven games.
ABOUT THE HAWKS (33-26): Atlanta dominated inside in outscoring the Celtics 60-34 in the paint, getting 17 points and 12 rebounds from Howard before he was ejected late in the third quarter for hanging on the rim after a dunk. Schroder is averaging 17.3 points and six assists across his past 10 games. The Hawks entered Tuesday seventh in the league in assists per game (23.7) and tied for seventh in assists (8.3).
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Dallas lost six games in a row to the Hawks, its last victory coming Oct. 30, 2013.
2. Barnes is averaging 8.4 more points than he did last season with Golden State.
3. The NBA announced after Monday’s game that Howard should not have received a second technical foul.