Report: Dallas Mavericks Must Beat the Hawks to Avoid…..As Key Players are Ruled Out.
Dallas Mavericks maintain 5th position in Western Conference standings but must secure a win against the Atlanta Hawks on Thursday to stay put.
Even though the Dallas Mavericks had their winning streak broken by the Golden State Warriors, they are still in 5th place in the Western Conference standings due to assistance from the Orlando Magic who defeated the New Orleans Pelicans to keep the Mavericks at 5th.
As of Thursday morning, these are the rankings from 4th to 10th in the West standings: No. 4 Los Angeles Clippers (47-28), No. 5 Dallas Mavericks (45-30), No. 6 Phoenix Suns (45-31), No. 7 New Orleans Pelicans (45-31), No. 8 Sacramento Kings (44-31), No. 9 Los Angeles Lakers (44-33), and No. 10 Golden State Warriors (41-34).
The Mavericks are just one game ahead of the Suns, Pelicans, and Kings, but hold tiebreakers over some of these teams. They aim to maintain their position by defeating the Atlanta Hawks on Thursday.
In addition to the game against the Hawks, important matchups for the Mavericks on Thursday include Sacramento Kings at New York Knicks, Golden State Warriors at Houston Rockets, and Denver Nuggets at Los Angeles Clippers. The Mavericks will face the Warriors on Friday night.
The last time the Mavericks played the Hawks, Luka Doncic scored 73 points, but this time they hope for a smoother victory with the recent changes in the team lineup.
Despite a recent loss to the Warriors, the Mavericks have shown strong offensive and defensive ratings in the last few games.
The Mavericks will be missing Dereck Lively II 
and Josh Green for Thursday’s game, while the Hawks’ injury report is yet to be released.
