The Dallas Mavericks (2-2) have suffered a 104:111 defeat at the Atlanta Hawks (2-2). In the second quarter, the team around the strong Maxi Kleber was already leading with 26 points, only to break down completely. For the Hawks, Kent Bazemore and Taurean Prince were particularly convincing.
The expected duel between No.3-Pick Luka Doncic and No.5-Pick Trae Young promised a lot, but had its ups and downs. The Mavs-Frischling started hot like his teammates and had already collected 7 points after a few minutes (12 in the section), including a nasty stepback-three and a butter-soft floater.
Dallas left the field early as coach Rick Carlisle’s team had a lot of open throws and scored well. Seven of the first eleven attempts sat from a distance, with Maxi Kleber playing his part with two triples in the first quarter. Dallas led after a quarter already with 42:22.
Young was not able to get a foot on the ground at all with the Hawks. The Point Guard had no field goal at first and also got two offensive fouls, which caused him foul problems in the second quarter. Without the potential franchise player, the Hawks reared up a little with a 21:6 run, which forced coach Rick Carlisle to two timeouts. What looked like a blowout at first was another basketball game at the break, mainly thanks to 17 points from Kent Bazemore. The Mavs only led with 58:48.
The Hawks also took the momentum from the first run with them and were fortunate to have Young sink the deep trio with a board for his first field goal. The Hawks got up to one point thanks to some triples, before the Mavs got some air again with some light points, among others a poster-dunk of DeAndre Jordan (11, 16 rebounds) about Alex Len with Foul.
The Mavs Center had already booked their double-double in the third quarter and was again surprisingly safe from the free-throw line. Otherwise, Dallas made it unnecessarily difficult for himself, the choice of throws was sometimes more than questionable, the ball losses accumulated and even from the three-country nothing more ran together. Only Kleber broke the spell again towards the end of the third quarter, the Mavs had again taken an 87:80 lead.
But Atlanta did not give in, among other things because Taurean Prince was now hot and hit one jumper after the other. Five minutes from time, the Hawks took the lead for the first time in the game after Young’s free-throw. The Hawks rookie finally turned up and came to the basket, even if it was once badly cleared of glue.
But Dallas didn’t come up with enough offense, while Bazemore turned the hall into a madhouse one minute before the end with Dunk (105:101). The Mavs didn’t have an answer and so the Hawks won their Season Opener after all. For the Hawks, Bazemore set up a new career high with 32 points, while the strong Prince was fouling in the middle of the fourth quarter. Young finished the game with 17 points (3/12 FG, 10/13 FT) and 5 assists and ball losses. DeAndre’ Bembry (11, 16 boards) scored a double double.
The best scorers of the Mavs that evening were Matthews (23, 5/14 threes) and Doncic (21, 7/18 FG, 9 rebounds), while Smith Jr. (16, 6 assists, 5 TO) again showed more shadows than light. J.J. Barea had no luck in throwing (3, 1/10 FG, 9 Assists), but gave a careful director, from whom Kleber (11, 3/4 FG, 3 Blocks) also profited enormously.