March 7, 2026; Atlanta, Georgia, USA; Atlanta Hawks forward Jalen Johnson (1) controls the ball in the second half against the Philadelphia 76ers at State Farm Arena. Mandatory Credit: Dale Zanine-Imagn Image The Atlanta Hawks will look to extend their season-high winning streak to seven games on Tuesday when they take on the Dallas Mavericks, who have lost seven straight.
This will be the first meeting between the clubs this season, with Dallas winning the last four. They play again March 18 in Dallas.
Atlanta won its sixth straight game with a 125-116 win over Philadelphia on Saturday. The Hawks have won seven of eight and have two games over .500 to sit in ninth place in the Eastern Conference. Atlanta entered Monday 1 1/2 games behind the eighth-place 76ers and 2 1/2 games behind sixth-place Orlando.
“I mean, we can keep winning,” Atlanta guard Dyson Daniels said. “For the top 5-10 spots, there’s probably four or five teams we can rotate in. So we’ve got to keep winning games. We try not to focus too much on that, but it’s in our head. We want to get a playoff spot. We don’t want to be in the play-ins, so we’ve got to keep winning games.”
Atlanta’s Jalen Johnson, who averages 22.9 points, 10.5 rebounds and 7.9 assists, had 35 points, 10 rebounds and 7 assists against the Sixers. He recorded 39 double-doubles and 11 triple-doubles this season.
The Hawks are hoping to bring back Jonathan Kuminga on Tuesday. He is averaging 21.3 points and 7.7 rebounds in three games with Atlanta since being acquired from Golden State at the trade deadline. Kuminga has missed the last two games due to left knee inflammation.
The Mavericks lost 122-92 to the Toronto Raptors on Sunday and have lost 17 of their last 19 games. Dallas has fallen to 12th place in the Western Conference with 9 1/2 games remaining in the play-in tournament qualifiers. Five of their last six losses have been by double digits, and four of them have been by at least 19 points.
Dallas coach Jason Kidd said there would likely be a shake-up due to the team’s poor performance.
“We have to look at some different combinations as we move forward,” Kidd said. “I think we’ll just have to look at the starting group. There might be different combinations in the first quarter. We’ll see when we get to Atlanta. We didn’t shoot the ball well, we didn’t take care of the ball. If you don’t do those two things well, it’s hard to win in this league.”
The exception on Sunday was Daniel Gafford, who scored 21 points on 10-for-10 shooting and 11 rebounds. Gafford is averaging 8.6 points and 6.6 rebounds.
Cooper Flagg, the top draft pick in 2025, will make his first appearance in Atlanta. Flagg played three games after missing eight games due to a left foot sprain. He’s averaging 20.2 points, 6.6 rebounds and 4.2 assists and earlier this month became the second-youngest player to reach 1,000 career points.
The Mavericks are coming off another solid season from PJ Washington (14.0 points, 6.9 rebounds) and got a boost from veteran Khris Middleton, who was acquired at the trade deadline. Middleton is averaging 11.8 points in 12 games with the Mavericks.
–Field level media
