By SCHUYLER DIXON
AP Sports Writer
DALLAS (AP) — Dejounte Murray scored 30 points, Trae Young had 18 points and 12 assists in another matchup with Luka Doncic and the Atlanta Hawks beat the Dallas Mavericks 130-122 on Wednesday night.
John Collins added 19 points as the Hawks won a season-best fourth consecutive game to get over .500 (23-22) for the first time since Dec. 27.
Doncic scored 30 points but fell to 4-3 in head-to-head meetings with Young since they were traded for each other as top-five picks on draft night in 2018. Doncic went third overall and Young fifth.
Murray and Collins combined to go 7 of 11 from 3-point range as the Hawks shot 57% from deep and 50% overall on a hot-shooting night for both teams. Dallas was 52% overall.
Christian Wood had 22 points and nine rebounds for the Mavericks, who were coming off a 1-4 trip and have lost five of seven since a seven-game winning streak that was their longest since the franchise’s lone championship season of 2010-11.
Dallas was down one when Murray hit a 3 for a 124-120 lead just inside the two-minute mark of the fourth quarter. Young pushed the lead to six with 41 seconds left on a high-arching floater.
Murray put Atlanta ahead for good with a jumper to start a 7-0 that broke a 110-110 in the fourth quarter.
Atlanta’s Clint Capela had 16 points and six rebounds in his second game back after missing 13 of the previous 14 games with a right calf strain.
Coach Nate McMillan said Capela was still on a minutes restriction off the bench. He played 23, two more than in his return and was on the floor with the game on the line late.
Dallas took its first lead at 75-73 in the third quarter on a 3-pointer from Doncic that started an 11-0 run. Murray answered by scoring the next eight points to get the Hawks back within two.
TIP-INS
Hawks: McMillan said the initial goal he set for the team in a chart he showed the players earlier this week was to finish in the top six in the Eastern Conference, which would avoid the play-in tournament. The Hawks won two play-in games last season to get the eighth seed. They lost to top-seeded Miami in five games in the first round after going to the East finals in 2020-21. “We need to start winning some games because we’re in the second half of the season and this thing normally goes pretty fast,” said McMillan, whose team entered the game seeded ninth.
Mavericks: Dorian Finney-Smith started after missing 14 games with a right adductor strain, and Josh Green was back from a 20-game absence due to a right elbow sprain. Finney-Smith had nine points and nine rebounds in 35 minutes. Green scored nine points in 20 minutes.
UP NEXT
Hawks: The Knicks visit Friday, with New York trying to win a fifth consecutive game in Atlanta.
Mavericks: Miami at home Friday. The Heat have won nine of the past 11 in Dallas.
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