Although the Dallas Mavericks lost on Saturday night to the Atlanta Hawks, something positive came out of it.
Guard J.J. Barea made his return after missing the past seven games with a left leg muscle strain and played 17 minutes — it was the first game all season the Mavericks didn’t have a player miss a game due to injury.
“Good to have everybody back and all the pieces together, but we still have a lot of work to do,” said Barea, who had seven points, seven assists and four rebounds. “Give Atlanta a lot of credit, but we have to play better, play harder and show more fire.