Mavericks (34-22) at Hawks (16-41)
Time: 6:30 p.m. CT
Place: State Farm Arena, Atlanta
TV: FSSW
Radio: ESPN, 103.3 FM, Univision, 1270 AM (Spanish)
About the Mavs: They will be trying to reach 13 games over .500 for the first time this season. They have been 12 games above four other times, only to lose their next game . . . Atlanta has not been kind to the Mavs as they have lost their last six visits and seven of the last eight . . . Luka Doncic and Kristaps Porzingis have combined for 58.5 points and 22.5 rebounds in their last two games. Porzingis also has had five assists in both of those games while Doncic has had eight in each of them . . . The Mavericks beat the Hawks 123-100 on Feb. 1 in Dallas when Jalen Brunson had 27 points in 27 minutes . . . Doncic and Atlanta’s Trae Young are destined to be linked throughout their careers since they were traded for each other on draft night in 2018. Both were starters in the All-Star Game last weekend . . . Maxi Kleber had a career-best 26 points on Friday at Orlando. That gave the Mavericks a combined 83 points from Kleber, Doncic and Kristaps Porzingis. That’s the highest-scoring threesome they’ve had in any game this season . . . The Mavericks are 6-3 on the second night of back-to-back games so far this season . . . Interestingly, the all-series with the Hawks is knotted at 44 wins apiece.
About the Hawks. They returned from the All-Star break with a 129-124 home win against Miami, in which Trae Young went for a career-best 50 points. That pushed his season scoring average to 30.1 points per game, just a smidge ahead of Doncic’s 29. Doncic, by the way, said he watched parts of Young’s 50-point night and after scoring 24 in the first half against Orlando, looked like he was taking aim at a 50-spot himself before settling for 33. “I’ll take a win,” was his comment when asked if he was trying to one-up Young . . . The Hawks have won three of their last six going back to before the All-Star break . . . However, the Hawks are extremely challenged defensively. They are next to last in the NBA, giving up 119 points per game and they also allow opponents to hit 47.6 percent of their shots, which rates 27th in the league . . . This comes after the Mavericks saw the worst-shooting team in the NBA on Friday at Orlando . . . Despite having Young, who makes more than three 3-pointers per game, the Hawks are not a great-shooting team from beyond the arc at just 33.1 percent. Yes, that would be dead-last in the league. What they do well, however, is score at the basket. Their 50.3 points in the paint per game are second-best in the league behind Milwaukee . . . They traded for Clint Capela just before the deadline, but he has yet to play in a game for them . . . Forward John Collins had 26 points against the Mavericks in the first meeting and has averaged 23.8 points in the last five games, including two 30-plus-point games.
Twitter: @ESefko
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