Hawks beat Mavs for 7th straight win

ATLANTA — Joe Johnson scored 24 points, and reserve Flip Murray had 19 in the Atlanta Hawks’ seventh straight victory, 95-87 over the Dallas Mavericks on Thursday night.

The Hawks moved four games ahead of fifth-place Miami in the Eastern Conference standings.

Dallas, which has lost three of four to drop 1½ behind seventh-place Utah in the Western Conference, but the Mavericks are still 3½ ahead of Phoenix for the eighth and final playoff spoot.

Dirk Nowitzki scored 23 points and 12 rebounds for Dallas, which was without two starters, swingman Josh Howard, who has a sore left ankle, and forward Erick Dampier, who has a swollen left knee and missed his first game of the season.

The Mavs also didn’t have coach Rick Carlisle after the 2:46 mark of the second quarter. Official Derrick Stafford ejected him for arguing with 2:46 left in the second. Lead assistant Dwane Casey coached the rest of the game for Dallas.

Carlisle likely was also upset with the swing in momentum after watching Brandon Bass match the Mavs’ biggest lead at eight with dunk at the 9:40 mark of the second. Over the next 7:24, however, Dallas was outscored 21-6, including an 18-0 run that ended Carlisle’s night.

During the Hawks’ winning streak, every opponent was held under 100 points, and the average margin of victory was 13. Atlanta’s franchise record for consecutive victories in a homestand came Feb. 21-March 11, 1979, when the Hawks won eight straight.

The Mavs never came closer than two after Bass hit a pair of free throws with 11:26 remaining. Murray’s runner 5:14 later gave the Hawks an eight-point lead at 87-79.<

Notes: Atlanta improved to 35-9 this season when opponents scored under 100. … Dallas dropped to 2-19 on the road when entering the fourth quarter with a deficit. … Against the Eastern Conference, the Mavs are now 8-5 away from Dallas. … Nowitzki has scored at least 20 points in 12 straight games, the NBA’s longest current streak.