Hawks will start small lineup against the Mavericks

The Hawks will play a small lineup with Jeff Teague, Devin Harris, Kyle Korver, Josh Smith, and Al Horford tonight against the Mavericks. Larry Drew pointed to the success of the small lineup in their first meeting as his rationale behind move. Devin Harris has started the last three games as Jeff Teague has worked his way back from an ankle injury, but in Brooklyn last night Teague had an incredible fourth quarter that helped propel the Hawks to the victory.

Drew said Teague appears to be gaining more confidence in the ankle and moving beyond the mental fear of re-injuring himself. Teague struggled in the win over the Suns on Friday shooting just 2-for-10 and had similar struggles in the first three quarters against the Nets going just 1-for-9. However, he had six points and seven assists in the fourth quarter on 3-of-5 shooting and looked to be playing with better pace and confidence.

Drew hopes that the tandem of Harris and Teague will get the Hawks on the break in order to speed up an older Mavericks team. The Hawks had 22 fast-break points in Brooklyn and will be looking to get the same kind of output tonight.