Alexander-Walker leads Hawks to 7th straight win, 124-112 over the tanking Mavericks

ATLANTA (AP) — Nickeil Alexander-Walker scored 29 points, Jalen Johnson had 27 and the Atlanta Hawks won their seventh in a row, holding off the Dallas Mavericks 124-112 on Tuesday night.

The Hawks, who have the NBA’s longest active winning streak, led nearly the entire game but couldn’t pull away from the Mavericks until the final period.

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Dallas tied the score at 97 on Khris Middleton’s step-back jumper with just over nine minutes remaining. Atlanta took control from there to hand Dallas its eighth straight loss.

Alexander-Walker hit two straight 3-pointers in the closing minutes to put the game away.

Dallas rookie Cooper Flagg was held to 14 points on 6-of-16 shooting, shadowed most of the night by the Hawks’ top defensive player, Dyson Daniels.

Daniels also had plenty of work at the offensive end with 14 points and 10 assists, reaching 1,000 field goals in his career. Onkeya Okongwu chipped in with 18 points, 10 rebounds and four blocks.

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Klay Thompson led the Mavericks with 21 points.

The Hawks came into the night trailing sixth-place Orlando by 2 1/2 games for the final guaranteed playoff spot in the East. Atlanta sat at ninth in the conference, but hope a strong finish could lift them out of a fifth consecutive trip to the play-in tournament.

This is the Hawks’ longest winning streak since a pair of seven-game runs during the 2021-22 season. Six of their victories during the streak have come at home, pushing the Hawks to .500 at home (16-16) for the first time since they were 4-4 in late November.

The Mavericks, who are in full-scale tanking mode as they begin a major rebuild around the 19-year-old Flagg, were greeted by chants of “Who are you? Who are you?” from the Atlanta crowd. Dallas has now lost 18 of 20.

Up next

Mavericks: At Memphis on Thursday night.

Hawks: Host Brooklyn on Thursday night.

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AP NBA: https://apnews.com/NBA