Atlanta Hawks: 7 Takeaways from Stunning 111-104 Win Over Dallas Mavericks
By Chris Guest
Baze & Bembry Kept Hawks Afloat in 1st Half
After that extremely taxing 1st quarter, the wind seemed to be out of the sails of the young Atlanta Hawks players, so some old hands had to rally the troops. Both Kent Bazemore and DeAndre’ Bembry rose to the occasion on this night – helping to keep the Hawks afloat as the Mavs continued to pour it on to start the 2nd. Baze was on one on this night, leading to some spicy dunks down the end of the game and all-around gutsy performances from two of the longest-tenured Hawks veterans. Bembry’s performance in particular was inspiring, as he has had a very up-and-down career to this point. It was certainly nice to see Bembry key this comeback as the primary backup point guard to Young, since Jeremy Lin only played 9 minutes.
Bembry finished with his first career double-double, and his stat line was terrific: 11 points, 16 rebounds, 5 assists, 2 steals, 1 block and a +12 box plus/minus.
Baze Career-High
Speaking of Baze, he completely carved up the Mavs on this night to the tune of a new career-high in scoring for the six-year veteran; Bazemore finished with 32 points on 12 of 22 shooting with 7 assists, 3 rebounds, 3 steals and a game-high +17 BPM in 33 minutes. Bazemore’s rangy defense and clutch buckets helped the key the Atlanta Hawks turnaround in the second half and particularly in the 4th quarter, in which he scored 9 of the Hawks’ 31 points. Baze punctuated the Hawks comeback by spiking this vicious hammer dunk on the entire Mavs roster after the team’s defense dissipated at the point of attack – leaving Baze wide-open for a slam:
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