Dallas Mavericks Go For Three Game Winning Streak in Atlanta

The Dallas Mavericks travel to Atlanta on Wednesday where they look to build a three game winning streak since acquiring Nerlens Noel.

With the acquisition of Nerlens Noel, the Dallas Mavericks have a newfound spark in not just their fan base, but their team also.

Dallas made the trade deadline trade on February 23rd where they shipped out Justin Anderson, Andrew Bogut and basically two second round picks for the 22-year-old Nerlens Noel from Philadelphia. Since then, the Mavericks haven’t lost.

Yes, it has only been two games, but the Mavericks do have a different look to their team up front that has impacted their play on both ends of the court. Noel went up against DeMarcus Cousins and Anthony Davis in his first game in Dallas and battled against Hassan Whiteside on Monday night.

Both ending in victories for the Mavericks.

Now, Noel goes head-to-head with Dwight Howard in Atlanta as the Mavericks hope to earn their third straight win.

For the Hawks, they are coming off a chippy game in Boston where they watched Howard get ejected. But behind 21 points from Dennis Schroder, the Hawks beat the second place Boston Celtics by 16 points.

Looking like they were headed into a rebuild after the Kyle Korver trade, Atlanta surprisingly took Paul Millsap off the trade block and decided to shoot for the playoffs once again this season. So far, it’s working as the Hawks have the fifth best record in the Eastern Conference and closing in on Washington.

The last time the Mavericks played the Hawks was on January 7th earlier this year when the Hawks came to Dallas and beat the Mavs 97-82.

In the game, it was the bench that played a big factor for Atlanta. Tim Hardaway came off the bench and scored 22 points for the Hawks as Dennis Schroder put in 20. Dwight Howard made his presence felt on the boards as the big man pulled down 20 rebounds to go along with 15 points.

So what are the differences this time around?

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On January 7th, Andrew Bogut and Deron Williams combined for 57 minutes of play, nine points, and a combined plus/minus of -43. Well that isn’t happening anymore for the Mavs….

Now, Dallas replaces them with the pesty Yogi Ferrell and their new big man, Nerlens Noel.

In addition to the two replacements, Seth Curry has since been inserted into the starting lineup. On January 7th, Curry came off the bench and logged just 13 minutes and zero points. What a difference almost two months make.

Guarding Atlanta’s All-Star in Paul Millsap will still be a problem, but I wouldn’t be surprised if you see Noel get a crack at him at times. Even though Nowitzki is starting, putting Dirk against Howard and Noel against Millsap might be something Carlisle could experiment with.

Either way, it’s completely different this time around.

Next: Curry, Cook Reunite Duke Backcourt in Dallas

With Dallas sitting at 2.5 games out of the eighth seed and Atlanta in the thick of things in the Eastern Conference, you can expect this to be another great game by teams with two, top-notch coaches.