The Atlanta Hawks didn’t just beat the Dallas Mavericks on Friday night - they spent most of the evening looking like the team that already has its footing.
Atlanta rolled to a 135-111 preseason win, and the game was effectively tilted by halftime, when the Hawks had already opened up a 73-54 lead. Quin Snyder kept his starters in the 15-plus minute range, and the result was a Dallas offense that never found a clean way back into the night.
The Mavericks had plenty of recognizable firepower on the floor, too. Cooper Flagg and Kyrie Irving combined for 44 points, but that still left them as two of only three Dallas players to clear 15. Former Hawk Zaccharie Risacher added 16 points on 7-for-11 shooting, though most of that damage came after Atlanta had already blown past the point of no return.
For Atlanta, the deeper takeaway was that the rotation decisions felt a little more real after this one. Snyder got a better look at who is standing out and who is leaving some questions hanging, and those performances will matter when the game plan shifts toward Orlando.
Nickeil Alexander-Walker kept making his case as one of the best value deals in the league. He finished as a plus-21, poured in 25 points on 6-for-10 shooting from three, and added five assists while turning it over just twice. He has looked sharper as a playmaker this preseason, and he kept the ball humming again in this game.
He also punished Dallas whenever they lost track of him in the corner. That kind of shot-making is a huge part of what makes Atlanta’s spacing work, and it’s going to be a big piece of his season.
Jalen Johnson put together another strong line, finishing with 20 points and 14 rebounds. He also got to the line 11 times, while Dallas as a team attempted 19 free throws. That ability to draw contact matters for his growth as a No. 1 option, and it showed up clearly against the Mavericks.
Johnson wasn’t at his best as a passer, but Atlanta’s overall ball movement helped cover for that. More than anything, his work on the glass mattered. The Hawks beat a bigger Dallas team on the boards, 55-42, and Johnson was a major reason why.
Jock Landale also made a strong push for a steady role behind Onyeka Okongwu. The expectation is that Snyder will lean on him as the backup center, and nights like this only strengthen that idea. He scored 14 points in just 11 minutes, knocked down three threes, and finished with five assists.
His shooting helped Atlanta go 41.2% from deep as a team and build the kind of lead Dallas never seriously threatened. Defense remains the concern, but Landale still finished plus-16 and gave the Hawks real value on the offensive end.
Dyson Daniels, meanwhile, gave Atlanta the kind of line that comes with a little more unease. He is not in danger of losing his starting job, but the shooting numbers are still hard to ignore. He is 2-for-12 from deep in preseason and has taken only 14 shots across four games, with 20-plus minutes in three of them.
That’s the issue with Daniels: he doesn’t need to be a volume scorer, but the jumper has to show some progress. So far, it hasn’t.
Dallas used Daniel Gafford to defend him, and that approach mostly worked. Daniels ended the night with 8 points on seven shots.
He did contribute two steals, a block and a solid defensive effort, but Atlanta needs him for more than that. His passing and defensive playmaking are what help balance out Jalen Johnson, and if opponents can simply live with him on the floor as a scorer, it creates a problem.
That wasn’t an issue in this game because Atlanta had plenty of answers elsewhere. Still, the Hawks can’t count on 45 bench points from Kingston Flemings, Jock Landale and Aaron Wiggins every night. The shot just hasn’t been there yet, and in games that count, that could become a real concern.
In Other News...
CJ McCollum Pushes Back As Hawks Get Dragged Into Dream Debate
CJ McCollum stepped into the conversation this week as criticism swirled around scheduling conflicts at State Farm Arena that had put the Hawks and the Atlanta Dream in the same awkward spotlight. He made clear the Hawks players were not the ones behind the calendar headaches, and instead directed his support toward the Dream, while also pointing to the attention Angel Reese has brought to the team.
The issue has already forced both sides to work around the venue calendar, and the solution includes a revised schedule built to give each team room to operate, with a doubleheader set for Oct. 24, 2026. Even with that fix in place, the bigger point McCollum was making was hard to miss: the Hawks should not be the target of blame in a situation that reflects broader coordination, not locker-room politics. [Read more 🡒]
Former Hawks Shooter Just Got A Chance Atlanta Fans Will Notice
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The Trail Blazers signed Houstan on an Exhibit-10 contract and plan to give him a look in preseason games, which at minimum puts him back on an NBA stage for a few weeks. The larger picture still points toward Portlands developmental pipeline, but for Atlanta followers, its the kind of familiar name worth tracking because it speaks to how far he has come since his time with the Hawks and where his next real opening might come from. [Read more 🡒]
Warriors Just Got Pulled Into A Karl-Anthony Towns Rumor
Karl-Anthony Towns future with the Knicks is already drawing buzz before the season even gets rolling, and the money side of it has become the real issue. Towns has reportedly shown a willingness to take a pay cut to work out an extension in New York, but the Knicks have put forward a lowball proposal and have said they will not reopen negotiations before opening night, which has only fueled talk that free agency could eventually come into play.
If that happens, the Hawks are among the teams being mentioned as possible landing spots, per ESPNs Brian Windhorst, alongside the Warriors and Clippers. Atlantas interest would not come as a surprise if Towns truly reaches the market, especially with the kind of flexibility the roster could have next offseason, but for now it remains one more layer in a situation that is still very much in wait-and-see mode. [Read more 🡒]