Hawks vs Mavericks final score: Second half surge propels Dallas over Atlanta

The Mike Budenholzer era officially opened Wednesday night but the Atlanta Hawks suffered a setback falling to the Dallas Mavericks by a score of 118-109.

The Mavericks got out of the gate quickly before the Hawks were able to right themselves behind a great first half from Jeff Teague. Dallas led 33-28 at the end of the first but Atlanta came storming back in the second behind Teague and Paul Millsap to grab a 55-53 lead at the break. The wheels came off defensively in the second half as the Mavericks outscored Atlanta 65-54 behind a barrage of buckets from Monta Ellis, Dirk Nowitzki and Vince Carter. Dallas ran away with the game in the fourth quarter where they made 7-of-8 attempts from beyond-the-arc.

Teague led Atlanta with 24 points, nine assists and four steals. Paul Millsap chipped in 20 while Cartier Martin added 17 off the bench. DeMarre Carroll finished with 14 in his Atlanta debut and Al Horford added 11.

There were a lot of positives for the Hawks offensively as they made 49 percent of their field goal attempts while recording 27 assists on 37 makes. Atlanta connected on 27-of-35 attempts from the free throw line.

Ellis torched Atlanta with 32 points on 11-17 shooting. Nowitzki finished with 24 points while Carter poured in 21 off the bench. Dallas shot a sizzling 57 percent from the floor including 11-of-24 from downtown. The Mavericks out rebounded Atlanta by a 42-33 margin.

The Hawks will look to regroup on Friday in their home opener against the Toronto Raptors.