Hawks defeat Mavericks for their fourth straight win

DALLAS — Atlanta point guard Dennis Schroder scored 22 points to lead a balanced attack in the Hawks’ 105-102 win over the Dallas Mavericks on Monday night at American Airlines Center.

The Hawks (20-7) earned their fourth consecutive win and 13th in the past 14 games. Atlanta is in second place in the Eastern Conference.

The Mavericks (20-9) dropped to 12-3 against the East. Dallas saw its home record fall to 10-5.

Schroder made nine of 15 shots and dished out six assists. All five starters scored in double figures for the Hawks, who took control in the first half and led 52-38 at the break.

“I thought Dennis (had) aggressive play really on both ends,” Atlanta coach Mike Budenholzer said. “I thought he was good defensively. And then on the other end he found ways to get to the basket, and attack, and he hit a big shot there late, and he just did a lot of good things. And, like our group, we want him to keep improving and keep getting better.”

Hawks power forward Paul Millsap racked up a double-double with 13 points and 12 rebounds, and he added seven assists. Center Al Horford had 17 points and seven rebounds.

Atlanta shooting guard Kyle Korver knocked down three 3-pointers and scored 18 points. Small forward DeMarre Carroll scored 15, and the Hawks shot 49.4 percent.

The Mavericks went into the fourth quarter down by 19 but made a furious rally to keep the outcome in doubt in the final minutes. However, the Hawks were able to hold on to run their road record to 8-5.

“It’s good anytime you come to Texas and get wins that’s big for us,” Korver said. “We still have a long way to go, but we feel like we are starting to put together some things as a team.”

Dallas struggled to get any offensive consistency in point guard Rajon Rondo’s second game. The Mavericks shot only 43.3 percent, with forward Dirk Nowitzki, guard Monta Ellis and forward Chandler Parsons each enduring poor shooting nights.

The transition to Rondo running the show is a work in progress.

“You know it’s going to take time and we knew that and it’s going to have its ups and downs, but we definitely want a player like him and we’ll get it down,” Parsons said. “We just can’t get down that much, and Atlanta is playing well right now so they force you to take tough shots and we didn’t make any tonight.”

Ellis scored a team-high 18 points. Nowitzki had 16 points, and Rondo finished with 13 points and 11 assists. Center Tyson Chandler grabbed 19 rebounds and scored eight points.

The Mavericks tried to make it a game in the fourth quarter by scoring 39, but the result was never in doubt. Dallas coach Rick Carlisle attributed the loss to the slow start.

“We’re just not playing very well,” he said. “We’ve got to play better and we will play better. We’re not a finished product yet here with this new alignment and we have work to do.

“We made some cardinal sins in the first half. We gave up 12 blow-bys, we gave up a lot less in the second half. Our concentration and focus has got to be very narrowly set on the defensive end first. That’s got to be it. From there, we’ll figure out our offense.”

Mavericks center Tyson Chandler (19 boards) finished one rebound shy of his third 20-rebound game of the season. Rondo recorded his 10th double-double of the season (first with Dallas) with 13 points and a game-high 11 assists. Ellis did score 18 points and Nowitzki added 16 points.

NOTES: The Mavericks are interested in F Josh Smith, who was released by Detroit less than halfway through his four-year contract. Smith was a high school teammate of new Dallas G Rajon Rondo at high school powerhouse Oak Hill Academy. “Josh is super talented, and he fits the profile of the guy we love to bring in here,” owner Mark Cuban said. “He’s one of those guys that gets a bad rap, and we have a great track record of bringing the truth out about guys like that.” Smith would be a potential replacement for high-flying F Brandan Wright, who went to the Boston Celtics in the Rondo trade last week. … The Hawks are off to a solid start. “The season’s only a couple of months old,” G Kyle Korver said. “We had a losing record last year. We made the playoffs last year but we won 38 games, so by no means are we like happy with ourselves.”