Detroit +6.5 @ Atlanta -6.5

[ATL Boy]

Went to the game last night (will be going to every game this season so I won't be able to post as the game is going on during home games), and to mimic what's already been said, our rebounding is ATROCIOUS!

The good news is that Thabo looked good, and was aggressive in his time on the court. He looks close to 100%. We need more out of the SF position than the 2 combined points we got between Thabo and Bazemore, however.

[Jamaaliver]

This is probably the best, most well-balanced, unbiased writeup for last night's game I've come across.

Blurbs:

•One match-up to watch early with the Hawks is how they fare against bigger SF's like Marcus Morris. The lesser half of the Morrii only went 6-19 but he was killing Kent Bazemore and Kyle Korver in the post and he was basically shooting over the top of them like they were chairs...This will be a big deal for them all season and we'll get another great look when they have to play Carmelo Anthony on Thursday.

•The Hawks wing rotation is really the biggest question mark about this season and Bazemore didn't really do much when given the first crack at the starting spot. He's real athletic but he's an inconsistent shooter (0-3) who plays out of control a lot (4 turnovers on 0 assists) and he's undersized for the SF position (6'5 200).

•Patterson...looked really good in his NBA debut...he just has the game of a Hawks/Spurs type player and I would not be surprised at all if he holds down a rotation spot all season. He was a do-everything player at Pitt (17/5/4 on 44/38 shooting)...he's got a great feel for the game and he knows how to play in a system like Atlanta's. The key for him is how he's going to hold up on D because he isn't a great athlete.

•Who the Hawks have as their 3rd and 4rth wings is going to be really important because they aren't going to get a lot of defense from Korver and they aren't going to get a lot of offense from Sefolosha. If they aren't careful with who they have out there, they could have a lot of fairly punchless offensive line-ups or groups that have a hard time stopping anyone.

[Jamaaliver]

Continued:

•Dennis Schroder...was absolutely tearing up the Pistons defense whenever he was out there. He was doing whatever he wanted...with the ball in his hands. He had 20 points in only 24 minutes of action and he is going to murder 2nd string PG's all season...he went 2-5 from 3, if he can be a consistent three-point shooter, he's going to push Jeff Teague for minutes and he's going to need to be a starter in this league sooner than later.

•Millsap and Horford did their usual thing all night, although Horford struggled with Drummond's size on the boards. There were a couple times when Drummond just pushed [AL] under the rim and got easy putbacks. However, he did completely stone Drummond in the post. Millsap absolutely killed Ilyasova on the block...

These seem pretty accurate, non?

[PandaKidd]

Thats from Lowe right? I read it , spot on.

[Jamaaliver]

Thats from Lowe right? I read it , spot on.

I found the link from Zach Lowe's Twitter.

But ironically, it's written by Jonathan Tjarks...a writer here at RealGM.

He brings up a great point I hadn't realized before.

With Horford, Millsap and Bazemore in the starting lineup, we now feature undersized players at Center, PF and SF positions.

Kind of puts that rebounding deficit in perspective.

[PandaKidd]

Thats from Lowe right? I read it , spot on.

I found the link from Zach Lowe's Twitter.

But ironically, it's written by Jonathan Tjarks...a writer here at RealGM.

He brings up a great point I hadn't realized before.

With Horford, Millsap and Bazemore in the starting lineup, we now feature undersized players at Center, PF and SF positions.

Kind of puts that rebounding deficit in perspective.

Im pretty sure i said that all offseason onced we lost DMC, that the SF position was going to be WILDLY undersized. Theres a BIG difference between 6'8'' and 6'5''.

The only person close is Thabo in size and weight (outside of Korver but he lacks the athleticism).

I even said that last week when I saw them matched up with Jeff Green who is 6'9''. Even the SMALL BALL GSW SFs are all 6'7'' and bigger.

Again, not to toot my own horn, but those were my MAJOR concerns all offseason. We dont have a SF to match up with the other elite Sfs in the league. DMC was not ELITE by any means, but he offered us perimeter size we dont have anymore. We added DEPTH in terms of bodies, we have 3-4 guys at every position. But, our SGs are oversized and our SFs are undersized.

But, its GAME 1. Lets see how they progress , Hawks just announced Muscala is OUT and so is Thabo Sefolosha for the NY Trip.

I suspect THJ minutes are incoming.

[Jamaaliver]

Im pretty sure i said that all offseason onced we lost DMC, that the SF position was going to be WILDLY undersized. Theres a BIG difference between 6'8'' and 6'5''.

The only person close is Thabo in size and weight (outside of Korver but he lacks the athleticism).

I even said that last week when I saw them matched up with Jeff Green who is 6'9''. Even the SMALL BALL GSW SFs are all 6'7'' and bigger.

Again, not to toot my own horn, but those were my MAJOR concerns all offseason. We dont have a SF to match up with the other elite Sfs in the league. DMC was not ELITE by any means, but he offered us perimeter size we dont have anymore. We added DEPTH in terms of bodies, we have 3-4 guys at every position. But, our SGs are oversized and our SFs are undersized.

But, its GAME 1. Lets see how they progress , Hawks just announced Muscala is OUT and so is Thabo Sefolosha for the NY Trip.

I suspect THJ minutes are incoming.

Kudos, my man. I was so exhilarated at the thought of having an actual Center in our rotation, I neglected to give much thought to the size of the SFs coming into the fold.

Definitely worth watching moving forward...

Went to the game last night...

Adnan, PK...what's the story with ATL fans not selling out the stadium on Opening Night following the greatest season since St Louis?

Were there really that many empty seats and unclaimed T-shirts?

[PandaKidd]

I didnt go last night, my game is FRI. They said on broadcast it was sold out.

Mehhh Tuesday night, 8pm tipoffs, against a unsexy team, i didnt see that selling out.

They moved all tipoffs to 8pm not, and with the way Atlanta is setup i think that HURTS weekday games IMO. Hard to take your kid to a WED night game at 8pm tip if youre from Gwinette or Kennesaw or Alpharetta. Wont be home until 11ish.

Weekend games i think its great. The amount of traffic it helps alleviate moving it 30 min later I bet is negligible. RIDE MARTA!

[ATL Boy]

There were a few empty seats from my vantage point.