Preseason Game 7 Review: Mavericks 98 Hawks 88

It's hard enough to gain much from most NBA preseason games, let alone a game when one of the
teams sit a good portion of their best players. Yet a game was played last night in which the Mavs defeated the shorthanded Hawks 98-88 and there are somethings that we maybe can take away from this matchup of teams that will face off for real next Wednesday to begin the regular season.
To begin the game the Mavericks did not get off to the greatest of starts as they fell behind early. Rookie point guard Dennis Schroeder was very effective for Atlanta with 21 points and going 8-12 from the field. The Mavs would find their sea legs eventually and take a four point lead into halftime and would continue to grow that lead in the second half.
Regular rotation players saw their minutes go up as the the real season fast approaches and contributions were made up and down the lineup. Besides the expected scoring exploits of Dirk Nowitzki (17 points) and Monta Ellis (15 points), Dallas shared the ball effectively finishing with 26 assists and had 4 players score between 10 and 12 points(Marion, Carter, Calderon, Crowder). The also Mavs got a good effort inside from the center tandem of Samuel Dalembert and Dejuan Blair who combined for 21 rebounds to lead to much better effort on the boards than we have seen recently this preseason. Gal Mekel seems to getting better by the game as he chipped in 6 points and a team high 7 assists although turnovers still remain a concern for the rookie who coughed the ball up 4 times.
As we get closer to opening it's still hard to expect what we will see from this team, but the promise of a potential playoff team is there. The concerns will focus on defense and rebounding and while this depleted Hawks squad will look much different come opening nigh,t the Mavs for the most part showed progress in those areas in their penultimate game of the preseason.

Team  Leaders: Points: Nowitzki,17 Rebounds: Dalembert, 11 Assists: Mekel, 7
Player of the Game: Marion (12 points, 7 rebounds)
Quote of Note:  “I don’t look that much at shooting percentages. We look at the kind of shots we’re getting, and that’s how we gauge where we are as far as if we’re playing well,”  “You can play well and not make shots. When that happens a lot of it falls back on your defense, and if you can get shots when you’re not shooting it good then you’ve still got a chance to win the game. You know, the shot making comes and goes in this league, but the defense has got to be consistent.” Rick Carlisle

Next Up: The Mavericks (4-3) will finish off their exhibition schedule Friday night against Indiana (2-5) at 7:30 at the AAC.