DALLAS -- Much of the Dallas Mavericks' recent success coincides with Darren Collison's improved play.
The fourth-year point guard has at least six assists in 10 of the past 14 games. He has averaged 14.9 points, 7.3 assists and shot 55.9 percent from the field in those 10 games.But Collison is not ready to heap praise on himself."You never want to say you're playing your best ball," he said. "There's always something that you can improve on."Me, I'm never satisfied with where I'm at.... "And my coach is going to stay on top of me to get better at it."Collison hopes to build on his solid play when the Mavericks (22-28) host the Atlanta Hawks (27-22) tonight at 7:30 at American Airlines Center.Collison had 18 points and eight assists in Saturday's 116-91 victory over the Golden State Warriors. His backcourt mate, O.J. Mayo, added 19 points and nine assists.The 17 combined assists are exactly what coach Rick Carlisle wants out of his starting guards."Guys were running the floor and we were just putting it where they needed to get the ball," Collison said. "O.J. has been doing a good job of passing the ball as of late."Rick has definitely stressed the fact that we don't have to make an impact with just our scoring, but just try to get everybody else involved. And I thought we did a good job of that."Work in progressThe Mavericks have made strides while winning three of four, but haven't turned any corner. The 22-28 record proves they have plenty of work left to contend for a playoff spot.The current five-game homestand gives the Mavericks an opportunity to make up some valuable ground heading into the All-Star break. Dallas hosts Sacramento on Wednesday before the break begins."Everybody's been counting us out," Darren Collison said. "We're the only ones that believe -- in this locker room -- that we feel like we still can make the playoffs, and rightfully so."They gave us this home stretch right before the [All-Star] break and we're excited about that and we're just trying to take advantage of that."Dwain Price, 817-390-7760Twitter: @DwainPrice
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