Hawks show depth in opening rout of Mavs
ATLANTA — As they began a season of high expectations, the Atlanta Hawks showed they’re far more than Trae Young.
He’s their unquestioned leader, of course, but a 113-87 rout of the Dallas Mavericks displayed Atlanta’s impressive depth.
Cam Reddish scored 20 points, Young added 19 and four others scored in double figures as the Hawks blew away Dallas on Thursday night, ruining the debut of Jason Kidd as coach of the Mavericks. Coming off a surprising run to the Eastern Conference title series this past summer, the Hawks took control with a dominant third quarter, stretching a 51-44 halftime lead to 86-64 heading to the fourth.
After a sluggish start, Young scored 12 points and dished out nine assists in the decisive period, drawing chants of “MVP! MVP!” from the home crowd in the opener for both teams.
Reddish led a stellar effort from a deep bench that contributed 44 points, and seven Hawks scored before Young finally knocked down his first shot with 4 1/2 minutes left in the first half.
“It’s a good problem to have,” Young said. “We’ve got so many guys who can play.”
Coach Nate McMillan, who guided the Hawks to a remarkable turnaround last season after taking over on an interim basis, wants his starters to play as hard as they can from the opening tip.
“We can play 10, 11 guys,” McMillan said. “There’s no need to pace yourself when you have a bench that can come in. We want to keep the pressure on an opponent.”
The Mavericks were thoroughly miserable in their first game under Kidd, who had not been a head coach since he was fired by the Milwaukee Bucks midway through the 2017-18 season. Kidd learned before the game that he was picked as one of the NBA’s 75 greatest players as part of the league’s 75th anniversary celebration.
It was all downhill from there. The Mavericks appear to have a lot more work to do if they want to take the next step behind Luka Doncic, their dynamic young star.
“I thought guys got great looks. They just didn’t go in for us,” said Kidd, who took over in Dallas after longtime coach Rick Carlisle stepped down on the heels of a first-round playoff loss.
With De’Andre Hunter doing a stellar defensive job, Doncic was held to 18 points on 6-of17 shooting, to go along with 11 rebounds and seven assists. He didn’t get much help from anyone except Jalen Brunson, who scored 17 points off the bench, as the Mavericks shot a dismal 32.6% (31-of-93) from the field.
In the unending comparison between Young and Doncic, who were traded for each other during the 2018 NBA draft, the Atlanta point guard was the clear winner in this one.