Hawks vs Mavericks preview: Atlanta looks to sweep road trip in Dallas

The Atlanta Hawks are playing some beautiful basketball and look to keep the streak going Monday night when they take on the Dallas Mavericks. The Hawks have won three straight and 12 of their last 13 games. They opened their current three-game road trip with wins over the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Houston Rockets.

Monday's game will feature the best offensive team in the league in the Mavericks against a Hawks team that has been surging defensively of late. Dallas leads the NBA in offensive efficiency scoring 113.3 points per 100 possessions. Dirk Nowitzki is an ageless wonder while Monta Ellis remains an explosive scorer and is coming off a huge game in a win on Saturday over the Spurs.

Dallas made the first big trade of the season acquiring Rajon Rondo from the Boston Celtics. Rondo made his debut in Saturday's win over San Antonio and solidifies Dallas' point guard position.

Atlanta currently ranks seventh in defensive efficiency at 100.6 but are No. 1 in the league over their last 13 games allowing just 93.3 points per 100 possessions. They held the Rockets to 39 percent shooting on Saturday and limited James Harden to 18 points on 5-16 shooting.

The Hawks have yet to update the status of Jeff Teague for Monday's game. Teague sat out the last two games with a strained hamstring but told SportSouth's Andre Aldridge on Saturday that he was hopeful that he could return to action against the Mavericks. Dennis Schröder has started each of the past two games at the point while Shelvin Mack has gotten all of the backup minutes.

Game Info

Game Date/Time: Monday, December 22, 8:30 p.m.

Location: American Airlines Center, Dallas, Texas

TV: SportSouth

Radio: 92.9 "The Game" FM