Atlanta 124, Dallas 112: Hawks Push Win Streak to Seven Games
The Hawks' big three of Jalen Johnson, Dyson Daniels and Nickeil Alexander-Walker combine for 70 points in the win.
The Atlanta Hawks have now won seven straight games after Tuesday night’s victory over the Dallas Mavericks by a final score of 124-112. Indeed, with the win at State Farm Arena, the Hawks improved to .500 at home and 34-31 overall. The Hawks are now just 2.5 games behind the Toronto Raptors for 5th place in the Eastern Conference standings with seventeen games remaining in the 2025-26 NBA regular season.
Let’s dive into my three key takeaways from last night’s win for the Hawks.
Dyson Daniels makes a huge impact all night long
Daniels started the game strong for the Hawks, dishing three assists and scoring two buckets at the rim in the first quarter. Outside of a Jalen Johnson floater or a Nickeil Alexander-Walker corner three, there is not a shot or look I feel better about for Atlanta than Daniels fighting his way through traffic inside. He’s either going to find a trailing Johnson for a dunk as he did late in this game, find somebody open on the perimeter, or he will lay it in for two easy points.
Daniels impacts the game in so many different ways for the Hawks night in and night out. A common thing I write down on my trusty yellow notepad during games is whenever Atlanta looks out of sorts for any significant stretch of time, Daniels probably isn’t in the game. He played 36 minutes last night, and those 12 minutes he was off the floor were glaring. Only Oneyka Okongwu, who was fantastic in the first and fourth quarters tonight, had a higher plus-minus in this game than Daniels at +25 to +20, respectively.
Daniels had a huge contest, stopping Marvin Bagley Jr. at the rim in the fourth quarter. The Hawks had forced 12 Mavericks turnovers with 6:54 left in the third quarter, with Daniels playing a large role in that. Overall, he flirted with a triple-double, posting a 14/7/10/3 line on the night. Daniels had the highest AST% of the night at 30.3% for the Hawks. That percentage fell in the 94th percentile on average, per CleaningTheGlass.
He did go 0-for-2 from three-point land, and while the Hawks broadcast encouraged Daniels to take those open threes, at 13% on the season now, I think it’s more of a Giannis Antetokounmpo situation from deep, where he should probably not ever shoot any threes, at least not for the remainder of this season. He’s too good at too many other things and doesn’t have to make any threes to be one of the Hawks’ best players every night out.
Nickeil Alexander-Walker’s Hot Shooting Continues
Alexander-Walker led the Hawks in scoring with 29. He was five-for-eight from three-point land overall, and drained two threes late to put the Mavericks away for good. I’ve written a lot about how good Alexander-Walker has been in his increased role with Atlanta this season, and this was another game where he was fantastic once again for the Hawks.
Alexander-Walker has been a big reason why the Hawks have won seven straight basketball games. Over his last three games, Alexander-Walker is 14-of-26 from deep. He’s scored 23 or more points in each of the last three games. Since the Hawks’ loss to the Miami Heat on February 20, Alexander-Walker has been hot from deep.
When Alexander-Walker, along with Daniels, has nights like this to support the team’s All-Star forward Jalen Johnson, it’s a really fun and exciting team.
As the Detroit Pistons have swept the Hawks 3-0 in their season series, you hope the wins keep coming for Atlanta so they can avoid a first-round date with Cade Cunningham’s club. If Alexander-Walker keeps shooting like this from deep for a while longer, the Hawks just might be able to do that.
Hawks withstand vintage Klay Thompson and Khris Middleton Performances
I have watched Klay Thompson and Khris Middleton play a lot of basketball over the years—a lot of basketball. So, it was both exciting and frustrating to watch as two all-time great No. 2s on NBA championship teams continued to give Atlanta’s perimeter defenders all sorts of problems for most of the night in 2026.
In the third quarter in particular, Thompson and Middleton shot four of five from three-point land and six of seven from the field overall. The Mavericks stayed in the game largely due to what Thompson and Middleton were able to do in that third quarter against the Hawks. It can be a bit disorienting to watch both guys at this stage in their careers – where DID the time go, that sort of thing – but it felt like 2015 again watching multiple Hawks wings try and hang with the future Hall Of Famer on the perimeter to no avail in that third quarter.
Next up, the Brooklyn Nets come to State Farm Arena as the Hawks try to push their current win streak to eight games.