Mavs suspend Rondo, fall to Hawks

ATLANTA, USA – With point guard Rajon Rondo suspended for one game for a heated argument with coach Rick Carlisle, the Dallas Mavericks fell 104-87 to Atlanta on Wednesday.

Dallas had won 3 straight NBA games coming into the contest, but they were without 3 starters.

Chandler Parsons missed his third straight game with an ankle injury, Tyson Chandler was out with a hip injury and Rondo was serving his one-game ban by the team for a shouting match with Carlisle during the third quarter of Tuesday’s win over Toronto.

Recently acquired reserve forward Amare Stoudemire was also not in the lineup.

Even so, the Mavericks seized an early 34-22 lead before the Hawks settled in.

Dennis Schroder, who scored a career-high 22 points in a win over Dallas earlier in the season, led Atlanta with 17 points.

Kyle Korver made 4 three-pointers en route to 16 points, Paul Millsap scored 15 with eight rebounds and Al Horford recorded 11 points with 8 rebounds and 6 assists.

The Eastern Conference-leading Hawks opened the third quarter with a 19-4 scoring run to take control of the contest and went on to complete their first sweep of a regular-season series against the Mavericks since 2003-04.

Prior to the game, Carlisle said Rondo would be welcomed back once he’d served his suspension.

“He’s an extremely important part of our team,” said the coach, who said the argument stemmed from “poor communication” that was down to both himself and the player.

“He’ll practice Friday and he’ll be back in the starting lineup on Saturday,” Carlisle said. “The events of last night are in the past.” – Rappler.com