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Schroder, Hawks fend off Mavs

Dec 23, 2014 - 7:20 AM Dallas, TX (SportsNetwork.com) - The Atlanta Hawks are proving that they can do just fine without their starting point guard.

Dennis Schroder scored a career-high 22 points starting in place of Jeff Teague to lead the Hawks to a 105-102 win over the Dallas Mavericks.

Teague missed his third straight game with a strained left hamstring.

Atlanta has won four straight and closed an impressive three-game road trip that also included wins over Cleveland and Houston.

Kyle Korver supplied 18 points, Al Horford had 17 and Paul Millsap deposited 13 points with 12 rebounds in the win.

"We did a great job," Horford said. "It was hard at the end, but I'll take it. It's a win on the road against a good team."

Monta Ellis led the Mavs with 18 points on 8-of-22 shooting and Dirk Nowitzki added 16. Dallas had its three-game winning streak snapped.

Rajon Rondo, making his second start as a member of the Mavs, contributed the first double-double for his new club with 13 points and 11 assists.

An 8-0 run that bridged the third and fourth quarters brought the Mavs within 82-67. The Mavs held Atlanta scoreless for the first 3:36 of the fourth, but could not really take advantage of the cold spell. Horford snapped the string with a jumper, then DeMarre Carroll buried a wing 3-pointer to make it 90-73 in favor of the visitors with 6:52 left.

Ellis then converted two layups during an 11-4 burst that Tyson Chandler capped with a driving dunk from Rondo, helping trim the deficit to 96-88 with just over two minutes on the clock.

Rondo picked up a steal at the other end and passed to a cutting Ellis on the break, but the latter was held up due to some stingy defense and forced a pass out of bounds. Schroder followed with four straight points to keep Atlanta in front by double digits.

Dallas had one last gasp, however. Charlie Villanueva hit two 3s in a span of 13 seconds late in the fourth to cut the deficit to 102-97 before Pero Antic committed a turnover at midcourt. Ellis couldn't convert another trey though, and the Hawks made just enough free throws in the closing seconds to hold off the pesky Mavs.

"We defended better in the second half, we contained penetration much better, our intensity was much better," Mavs coach Rick Carlisle said.

Atlanta dominated play throughout the first half to claim a 14-point lead at halftime.

Schroder led the charge in the opening quarter, scoring 10 points to help the visitors grab a 25-18 lead entering the second.

Dallas trailed by six following a Nowitzki jumper early in the second, then Korver unleashed a pair of 3-pointers to push the margin to 35-23. Atlanta held the Mavs to 32.7 percent from the floor, including 21.4 percent from beyond the arc in the opening half, and led 52-38 at the break.

"When you have to dig out of a big hole, especially against a good team like Atlanta, it's going to be difficult," Carlisle added.

Schroder netted back-to-back baskets as part of a 13-3 run that gave the Hawks a 69-48 lead with five minutes left in the third. The margin was as many as 24 minutes later prior to Dallas' fourth-quarter comeback effort.

Game Notes

Villanueva had 14 points off the bench ... Korver had his string of 50 consecutive free throws snapped with a miss on a technical free throw ... The Hawks scored 18 points off turnovers ... Carroll finished with 15 points in the win ... Dallas had a 47-43 edge on the glass. Chandler grabbed a game- high 19 boards.