The hottest team in the NBA looks to make it 11 straight victories when the Atlanta Hawks visit the Dallas Mavericks Wednesday night.

Atlanta hasn’t won at least 11 in a row since winning a franchise-record 19 straight in 2014-2015.

Granted, Atlanta has played some of the teams in the bottom half of the NBA during this run, but the closest game in this run has been nine points and the streak has catapulted them into a tie for eighth in the Eastern Conference standings, just 1 1/2 games back of fifth place.

Atlanta thumped the Magic 124-112 Monday night, getting a career-high 41 points from Nickeil Alexander-Walker and a second straight triple-double from All-Star Jalen Johnson.

“Sometimes, you just have nights like this,” Alexander-Walker said. “And I think the focus truly was just about being aggressive at the right time. It was an important game, and I knew that I just had to come out and give my all. That was the only thing on my mind, be aggressive, be myself, try to help the team win.”

Hawks guard CJ McCollum was inserted in the starting lineup Feb. 22 against Brooklyn, the same night the win streak started. McCollum has averaged 18.3 points since coming over to Atlanta from Washington in a trade.

“We’ve been through a lot of ups and downs, the team has looked different at times,” Johnson said. “But we’ve remained together. That’s allowed us to stack these wins (and) go on a win streak like this. The little things we’ve been doing off the court and in practice, this is the result.”

While Atlanta has been rising, the Mavericks have been sinking in the West. Dallas has lost 10 of its last 12 games and 20 of its last 24.

The biggest positive has been the development of 19-year-old rookie Cooper Flagg, who has averaged 18.9 points since coming back from an injury March 5.

Dallas just finished a stretch of nine games in nine different cities over a 14-day span. Dallas looked tired in Monday’s loss to New Orleans. The Mavs led by 10 early, but collapsed and fell 129-111.

“Yeah, we were really good there in the first five minutes,” Mavericks coach Jason Kidd told Mavs.com. “The ball was moving, P. J. (Washington) was shooting the ball. We had good looks that just didn’t go down for us after that stretch.”

“We were just moving the ball,” said Flagg, who finished with 21 points, eight assists, seven rebounds and two steals. “I thought we played with great pace out the gate early and I thought the ball had a lot of energy just moving around out there.”

The Mavericks played Monday without Caleb Martinn (foot), Klay Thompson (rest) or Brandon Williams (concussion). Thompson is set to play, while Williams is doubtful and Martin is questionable.

The offense has struggled all season, ranking 24th in the NBA at 113.2 points per game.

Dallas has won four of the last five meetings, but Atlanta downed the Mavericks 124-112 on March 10. Alexander-Walker had 29 points in that win.

–Field Level Media

The playoffs don’t begin for another month, but Wednesday night will have a postseason atmosphere when the Colorado Avalanche host the Dallas Stars in a matchup of the top teams in the NHL.

Colorado has led the league for most of the season but losing three of its last four allowed red-hot Dallas to cut the gap to three points. The Stars won 14 of 15 games before losing at home to the Utah Mammoth on Monday night, their first regulation loss since Jan. 22.

The Avalanche led Dallas by 12 points at that point, but now they are fighting for the Central Division title and home ice throughout the playoffs.

The Stars’ one loss in the previous 15 games came March 6 in a shootout against the Avalanche, who tied it with 15 seconds left in regulation. That increased the Avalanche’s lead to seven points, but things have tightened since.

Dallas had a chance to get within one point but gave up four goals in the third period to the Mammoth in a 6-3 loss. The Stars quickly shifted their focus to Wednesday’s showdown.

“It’s a lot like playoffs right now. You can’t let one game affect the next,” Stars captain Jamie Benn said. “It’s about moving on quickly here and learning from this one. We’ve got a big game coming up here (against Colorado). We want to get two points against those guys every chance we can get. Looking forward to another big game here.”

The Stars have surged despite the absences of Mikko Rantanen, Roope Hintz and Radek Faksa. Rantanen is the closest to returning but will be out until at least the end of March.

Colorado is also dealing with injuries to key players. Artturi Lehkonen (upper body), Gabriel Landeskog (lower body) and Ross Colton (upper body) won’t play against Dallas, and their absences have disrupted the Avalanche’s flow.

Nazem Kadri, acquired from the Calgary Flames at the trade deadline, has played wing on the first line with Nathan MacKinnon and Martin Necas instead of his natural center position. Colorado dressed only 11 forwards for the past three games, losing the last two.

The Avalanche allowed a season high in goals Monday in a 7-2 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins. The Penguins scored three goals on their first five shots when Colorado was guilty of missed assignments in its own zone.

“The chemistry matters,” said MacKinnon, who leads the NHL with 45 goals and reached 110 points for the fourth straight season. “It’s no one’s fault. It’s just different. New teams, and then a lot of different line combinations lately, for everybody. It’s hard. It sounds like an excuse. (Monday) was just bad, too. We just played bad.”

The Avalanche understand the importance of Wednesday night. Head coach Jared Bednar approached the recent game in Dallas with a playoff mindset, and the third of four meetings will be the same.

The teams finish the season series in Dallas on April 4.

“Everything’s crucial right now,” center Brock Nelson said. “We just (need) a little bounce-back.”

–Field Level Media

As much as it is a long shot for the St. Louis Blues to make the playoffs, they have a golden chance to keep the faith when they continue their road trip Wednesday against the slumping Calgary Flames.

The Blues are coming off a 3-2 loss to the Winnipeg Jets on Sunday, but they have been one of the league’s hottest teams since the Olympic break.

St. Louis has posted a 7-2-1 mark since Feb. 26 to keep its playoff hopes on life support. Going into Tuesday’s play, the closest wild-card spot sits seven points away with 15 games remaining in the regular season.

“The players came back and are focused on having good habits,” said Blues coach Jim Montgomery, whose club had a seven-game point streak snapped in the first outing of a three-game trip. “And they want a little redemption.”

After facing Calgary, the Blues finish their road trip against the only team below the Flames in the overall standings, the Vancouver Canucks, giving them another chance to keep earning points.

Though they suffered a setback in Winnipeg, the Blues can take solace in believing they legitimately deserved to win. After falling behind 2-0 in the first eight minutes, the Blues controlled the clash but could not pull even.

“I think overall, we were the better team,” forward Dalibor Dvorsky said. “We had more time in the (offensive) zone. We’ve just got to get to the net more and have more net hunger. I think our play overall was pretty good. The main part is we’ve just got to get hungrier in front of the net and score some dirty goals.”

The Flames, who are five points behind St. Louis, return to the Saddledome after suffering a 5-2 road loss Monday to the Detroit Red Wings.

Calgary lost four of five on its road trip and surrendered 23 goals along the way.

“It’ll be good to be home, be in front of our fans and regroup,” forward Blake Coleman said.

Despite their position in the standings, the Flames are starting strong in games but continue to be overmatched despite their efforts.

In Detroit, they led 1-0 after the first period but gave up four goals in the second period. Their inability to score has been a recurring problem.

The league’s lowest-scoring team (2.46 goals per game) has not scored any power-play goals in the last five games and only two over the last 11 outings. As a result, any goal scored against them becomes even more valuable.

“We gave up too many odd-man rushes, and I think a little bit of that is a lack of recognition of who you are on the ice against,” Flames coach Ryan Huska said about the Detroit game. “Those are all goals where I feel we hurt ourselves.”

As they gear up for a six-game home stretch, the Flames have managed only five wins in their last 19 games (5-11-3).

“We’ve got to get back at it. I think the challenge for our team is to put 60 minutes together,” Huska said. “We’ve talked about the consistency we have to play with and there are certain things that we cannot do but are doing too often and it’s shooting us in the foot.”

–Field Level Media