Hot Hawks Hit Heaves, Head To Houston With 11th Straight Win In Hand, 135-120

The Hawks looked to keep rolling in the Lone Star State, with a pair of games at the Mavericks and the Rockets on Friday. No change to the usual starting lineup for tonight.

Onyeka Okongwu came out of the gates and scored the game’s first 10 points all by himself. Here was a montage of those buckets:

But the Hawks’ early edge was short-lived, as the Mavericks crushed the Hawks on the offensive boards early on. That propelled them to pulling roughly even with Atlanta by midway through the quarter.

With the bench unit it, Jonathan Kuminga shook off a rough two games to give the Hawks some offensive punch. This corner three came from good ball movement via Jock Landale:

After one quarter, the Hawks led 37-30.

Atlanta’s bench put together an immediate 7-0 run in the following quarter to open up a 14-point lead, with plays like this from Zaccharie Risacher to CJ McCollum acting as catalysts:

Atlanta tightened the screws defensively and on the rebounding front in the second quarter to protect their lead. The bench handed things off back off to the starting unit to take them home in the first half.

After some scrappy play to close the half, the Hawks led 67-56. Dyson Daniels and Onyeka Okongwu were tied for the scoring lead by the halfway point at 10.

CJ McCollum turned on the scoring faucet in the next period, getting his early and often. Jalen Johnson chipped in to create his opportunity:

Jonathan Kuminga and Jalen Johnson paired up once again to provide a two-headed offensive punch in the third quarter. Kuminga got to his spots over and over, and Dallas had no one to contend with his downhill pressure.

Kuminga even hit maybe the shot of the year in the entire NBA with this insane heave (pass?) at the end of the period:

After 36 minutes, the good guys had the advantage, 101-82.

The fourth quarter was fairly routine, with the Mavericks never cutting the lead down to single digits. The Hawks calmly salted away their 11th straight win, 135-120, to move to 38-31.

CJ McCollum was the Hawks’ highest scorer with 24, Jonathan Kuminga put in 16 points from off the bench, and Jalen Johnson finished an assist shy of a triple-double with 17 points, 11 assists, and nine rebounds.

The streak is tied for the third longest in the entire NBA this season.

The Hawks now aim for third place on their own with a matchup against the Houston Rockets on Friday.