DALLAS — Luka Doncic finished with 25 points after a rare scoreless first quarter and the Dallas Mavericks stayed alone in fifth place in the Western Conference with a 109-95 victory over the Atlanta Hawks on Thursday night.
Kyrie Irving scored 26 points and Doncic had 12 rebounds and eight assists as the Mavericks opened a rare stretch of three home games in four days with their 12th victory in 14 games.
The juggled home slate came after a scheduled game at Golden State in January was postponed following the death of Warriors assistant coach Dejan Milojevic.
The Warriors visit Friday night to finish a back-to-back for both teams. Golden State played in Houston.
Dallas' game against Atlanta was moved up a day in order for Golden State's visit to be pushed back three nights. That cleared the way for the Mavs' rescheduled game in California, where the Warriors won 104-100 on Tuesday.
The Mavericks are a game ahead of Phoenix, which began the night with the final guaranteed playoff spot in the West, and have the tiebreaker on the Suns.
Bogdan Bogdanovic scored 17 points and Dejounte Murray added 16 for the Hawks, who have clinched a spot in the play-in tournament in the East and are jockeying with Chicago for the final two spots as the ninth and 10th seeds.
Doncic had his second scoreless first quarter and his fewest minutes in the frame this season after picking up his second foul less than six minutes in.
The MVP candidate and league scoring leader scored 16 in the second quarter, capping a 10-0 run with an intentional bank on a 3-pointer from the wing in the final seconds of the first half for a 65-57 Dallas lead.
The Hawks trimmed a 17-point Dallas lead in the third quarter to seven early in the fourth, but a scoring drought of more than five minutes followed to keep Atlanta from getting closer.
P.J. Washington ended a scoreless stretch of 3:17 for both teams with his fifth 3-pointer for a 105-93 lead with 2:41 remaining. Washington scored 19 points.
UP NEXT
Hawks: At Denver on Saturday.
Mavericks: The rematch with the Warriors comes after Golden State ended Dallas' seven-game winning streak, which tied a season best.