At 49-40, Dallas was still within one good sequence of making Friday’s preseason meeting uncomfortable for Atlanta. Before Dallas made its next field goal, the Hawks led 63-41, and the Mavericks were left playing catch-up in a 135-111 loss at American Airlines Center.
That 14-1 Atlanta burst is more revealing than the final 24-point margin. The important stretch consisted of several ordinary possessions with very different results for the two teams. It was a compact series in which Atlanta kept finding points, Dallas kept missing them and the Hawks repeatedly denied the Mavericks a clean answer.
The starting point was Irving’s 15-foot pull-up at 9:46 of the second quarter, cutting Atlanta’s lead to 49-40. Atlanta answered without rushing. Kingston Flemings missed a driving floater, gathered the offensive rebound, missed a tip and collected that miss as well. Cooper Flagg then committed a shooting foul, and Jock Landale made all three free throws.
Dallas’ next trip ended with Zaccharie Risacher missing a 25-foot three. Aaron Wiggins promptly knocked down a 23-footer to extend Atlanta’s lead to 55-40. P.J.
Washington missed from beyond the arc on the next Mavericks possession. Dyson Daniels then missed a driving floater for Atlanta, but Dallas could not turn that stop into a score: Risacher missed a two-point shot, Dallas recovered the ball, and Landale was called for a loose-ball foul.
Morez Johnson Jr. missed a three after that exchange. Jalen Johnson secured the rebound, and on Atlanta’s following possession Johnson Jr. was called for a kicked-ball violation. Jalen Johnson then hit a 9-foot turnaround jumper for a 57-40 lead.
The next possession mattered because it looked like a chance for Dallas to interrupt the sequence. Marcus Sasser’s bad pass became a turnover, but Atlanta did not cash it in immediately; Jalen Johnson traveled on the Hawks’ next trip. Dallas drew a foul on Onyeka Okongwu, and Irving made one of two free throws. That was Dallas’ only point during the run.
Atlanta resumed the pressure on the scoreboard. Daniels converted a dunk with 7:01 remaining. Okongwu blocked Johnson Jr.’s 10-foot attempt, then scored a layup at the other end. Washington missed another three, Sasser missed one too, and a Dallas timeout did not produce an immediate answer. Flagg missed a pull-up, Jalen Johnson finished a driving dunk at 5:01, and the 49-40 game had become 63-41.
The quarter’s shooting line explains why the gap became so stubborn. Dallas went 8-for-24 in the second period and made just 1 of 10 three-point attempts. Atlanta’s sequence included Landale’s free throws and Wiggins’ three-pointer, but the broader issue was that Dallas had too many possessions ending without a field goal while the Hawks converted enough of theirs to keep the pressure on.
The rebounding numbers added weight to every miss. Atlanta finished with 17 offensive rebounds and 55 total boards, compared with Dallas’ 12 and 42. Flemings’ two offensive rebounds were the clearest example in the pivotal passage: Atlanta missed twice and still earned a foul shot opportunity.
Dallas actually scored more second-chance points, 26-18, a worthwhile counterpoint. But scoring efficiently after an extra chance is different from consistently securing the next possession, and Atlanta created five more offensive rebounds overall.
