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The Dallas Mavericks travel to Atlanta to take on the Hawks in Philips Arena on Saturday at 6 p.m. CT. The contest will be televised on KTXA in the Dallas area. This will be the third NBA preseason game for the Mavs, and fifth overall. The Hawks will be playing their sixth preseason tuneup.
Dallas has split its first four contests, winning once on their trip to Europe and again over Houston on Monday. Star forward Dirk Nowitski played in just the first of those games, and underwent successful knee surgery on Friday. The Mavericks will now have to tread water without their best player in the lineup for at least six weeks.
Atlanta is 2-3 so far. They won their last contest, trouncing the New Orleans Hornets 97-68 at home. The Hawks were a playoff team last season, but top scorer Joe Johnson is now with the Brooklyn Nets. Atlanta will have find a way to replace those 17.2 points per game.