"The Mavericks forced Atlanta to miss 20 consecutive shots in one stretch of defensive tenacity Saturday night. But in the big picture, Shawn Marion had trouble seeing the benefit.

"If you aren't making shots, what difference does it make?" he said. "If you capitalize, great. But if you don't, you're not making up any ground."

That's what the Mavericks did all night long against the Hawks - fail to make up ground. And when they played from behind virtually the whole game, that spelled doom.

On a rough offensive night for both teams, the Hawks made just enough shots when it counted to squeeze off an 80-75 victory over the Mavericks at American Airlines Center.

For the first time this season, the Mavericks have lost two in a row after getting slammed Friday in Memphis. It was a sour way to end a busy stretch of eight games in 12 days."