Hawks scorch Mavericks, grab 11th straight win

Key play

Kuminga has worked to get himself back into form. The Hawks forward has missed four of the past seven games while dealing with a left knee bone bruise.

He played his second consecutive game and bounced back from some shaky performances.

Kuminga had a nice stretch in the first quarter where he helped the Hawks gain a little separation from the Mavericks. He scored a midrange jumper with 4:07 to play in the first, then he made a 3. He then found Gabe Vincent for a triple shortly after.

But, of course, Kuminga’s brightest moment came on a 75-foot 3-pointer at the end of the third quarter.

Highlight play

With Daniels playing more minutes as a point guard, he has the ball in his hands more. So, the 23-year-old showed off his handles to get to the rim for a dunk in the third quarter.

In the process, Daniels sent No. 1 overall draft pick Cooper Flagg stumbling. It cleared the runway for Daniels to take off and slam down a one-handed dunk.

What they said

“I was trying to figure out what happened, to be honest. Because when I went through the net, I thought maybe it grazed the front of the net. I just saw everyone’s reaction to it, and I’m like, ‘Oh yeah.’” — Jock Landale on Kuminga’s 75-foot shot.

“I think it was a pass. But if he wants to say it was a shot, I’ll go with that, too, but it was a good pass.” — Hawks coach Quin Snyder on Kuminga’s basket.

“We’re trying to get somewhere and see what we can do when we get to that level. I feel like there’s so much more for us that we still haven’t tapped into. And I think we’re just getting there slowly, and it’s gonna take time. There’s gonna be ups and downs and we’re just gonna take it day-by-day and go by our day and learn and grow and figure it out.” — Kuminga on experiencing the Hawks’ 11-game winning streak.

Up next

The Hawks will spend another two days in the Lone Star State, with a matchup against the Rockets on Friday.

Standings watch

The Hawks’ win on Wednesday allowed them to tie their record with the Heat’s. Since the Heat lead the regular-season series 2-1, they hold the tiebreak over the Hawks and thus remain in the seventh seed spot.

But the Hawks’ win also moves them that much closer to the sixth-seeded Magic. They now sit just a half-game back of sixth place in the Eastern Conference.

The Hawks also extended their lead over the ninth-seeded 76ers to one game. They also now have a three-game lead over the 10th-seeded Hornets.

The fifth-seeded Raptors, who swept the Hawks in the regular season, downed the Bulls on Wednesday night. Thus, they retained their 1½-game lead on the Hawks for the fifth seed.