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The Atlanta Hawks did just enough late to hold on for a 98-95 road win over the Dallas Mavericks. The Hawks emerged from a four-day break with a bit of a sloppy performance. Atlanta shot the ball extremely well but was outworked on the boards which allowed the Mavericks an opportunity to steal a win at home.
Atlanta shot the ball extremely well for most of the game and finished with 48 percent shooting. The Mavericks struggled to generate offense but made up for it by attacking the offensive glass. Dallas finished the game with 20 offensive rebounds and 17 second-chance points which kept the Mavericks hanging around.
Deron Williams' three-pointer with 3:07 remaining put the Mavericks in front 93-89. Atlanta scored the next five points to retake the lead capped off by a three-pointer by Kent Bazemore to put the Hawks back in front 94-93. Paul Millsap made it a 7-0 run one possession later to extend the lead to 96-93. The Mavericks closed to within one with a pair of free throws from Raymond Felton with 30.4 remaining. Jeff Teague was fouled on a drive on Atlanta's next possession and pushed the lead back to three with just over 11 seconds remaining.
Atlanta elected not to foul up three on the Mavericks' final possession and lived to tell about it as Deron Williams missed a game-tying attempt.
Paul Millsap led the way for Atlanta with 20 points, 11 rebounds and five assists. Jeff Teague and Al Horford finished with 14 points each. The Hawks got a significant contribution from their bench where Kent Bazemore and Dennis Schröder combined for 23 points. Williams led Dallas with 18 points while Wesley Matthews added 17.
It wasn't the sharp performance that Atlanta might have been looking for coming out of a long break, but the Hawks did just enough to escape with a big road win. They are back at it again on Thursday when they wrap up a road back-to-back in Oklahoma City against the Thunder.