Atlanta Hawks (16-6) vs Memphis Grizzlies (11-10)

[ATL Boy]

Starting Lineups: Atlanta Hawks
PG: Jeff Teague
SG: Joe Johnson
SF: Marvin Williams
PF: Josh Smith
C: Zaza Pachulia
(lineups subject to change)
Bench: Kirk Hinrich, Ivan Johnson, Jason Collins, Jerry Stackhouse, Tracy Mcgrady, Willie Green, Jannero Pargo, Vladimir Radmonovic.
Injuries: Al Horford
Memphis Grizzlies:
PG: Mike Conley Jr
SG: Tony Allen
SF: Rudy Gay
PF: Marreese Speights
C: Marc Gasol
(Lineups subject to change)
Bench: Jeremy Pargo, OJ Mayo, Sam Young, Dante Cunningham, Hamed Haddadi, Josh Selbi, Josh Davis, Quincy Pondexter.
Injuries: Zach Randolph, Darrell Arthur
Stat Leaders: Atlanta Hawks
PPG: Joe Johnson: 19.2 PPG
RPG: Josh Smith: 9.1 RPG
APG: Jeff Teague: 5.2 APG
Other Stat Leaders: Josh Smith: 2.0 BPG, Jeff Teague: 2.1 SPG
Memphis Grizzlies:
PPG: Rudy Gay: 17.9 PPG
RPG: Marc Gasol: 10.6 RPG
APG: Mike Conley Jr: 7.2 APG
Other Stat Leaders: Marc Gasol: 2.3 BPG, Mike Conley Jr: 2.5 SPG
What happened last game:
Memphis: Memphis 100 - Denver 97
Atlanta: Atlanta 100 - Toronto 77
Key to the Game: Crash the Boards: This is a team that thrives off of rebounding because they are one of the teams that have a true center; we have to crash the board.

The Hawks are coming home after a 5 game road trip, lets welcome the road warriors home:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k-ImCpNqbJw&ob=av2e[/youtube]

[Ruhiel]

Love to get this win against a good western Conf team.

[Skyhawk1]

They say the first game back home after a long trip is the hardest one... so this one should be interesting. The Grizz are a good but inconsistent team. Out of the playoffs as of now... I think we should be ok as long as we come to play focused.... that's not always the case with our loved Hawks. Is J. Smith come out to play after taking the last couple of games off? I think he's key for us to win tonight.

[Skyhawk1]

NICE GAME THREAD BTW.

[ATL Boy]

NICE GAME THREAD BTW.

THX

[HMFFL]

Atlanta has won the previous four meetings.

Atlanta is favored to win this one by 4.5 points.

We need to take advantage of the Bucks beating the Heat yesterday.

[ATL Boy]

Is Zaza injured??? If not then Drew is an even bigger dumba** then I thought.

[Ruhiel]

Rudy Gay can't guard Josh Smith and Marvin can't guard Gay.

Want to go big Larry Drew? Run a couple pick and rolls?
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LtpkPHEnLEs[/youtube]

[MaceCase]

Who would have thought that I'm actually fearful of an extensive Jason Collins injury? LD had better be careful with Zaza, Ivan's the only C eligible behind him now and love him and all but he ain't exactly Chuck Hayes.

I need to see Joe destroy a premier wing defender, getting some mojo going against Allen would certainly help him against Iggy next.

[Ruhiel]

wow Iso Josh Smith 3 straight plays...Seriously? Iso Joe and Iso Josh is the gameplan.

Coaching is nonexistent. No motion offense, no simple 2 man game. No easy plays. Overloading one side but no pick and roll. Just straight iso.

Hawks never want to run that pick and roll.
It seems this play is clearly breaking Drew's offense and "floor balance" if you can call it that.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-mw3LLJpY2A[/youtube]

Already know how this one is ending.

[ATL Boy]

Drew is showing his true colors tonight in a pressure moment, and I can honestly say that if these are his colors we'll never do anything in the playoffs.

[Superiorblogman]

Team sucks against real competition. Josh Smith is trash and has no business making as many decisions as he does. Teague and Josh do not like each other. Finally a player on the team is showing there dislike for Josh garbage arse. Team will turn the corner when Josh is traded. Drew is trash and killed the teams momentum twice in the 1st half.

[ATL Boy]

I will place blame on Drew and his gameplanning if you can call it gameplanning at all, Iso Joe and Josh, Drew is a prime example of the greedy Ownership who instead of finding a real Coach just gave minimum money to a guy who doesn't know what he's doing. I normally don't hate, but man does Drew deserve it.

[MaceCase]

Well it was a trap game to begin with and we all know that when this team goes down they go down hard.

[SAUCERY_SWEET]

Just looking at the score I thought somebody had to get hurt for us to go down like that. But it just was a terrible night where we just didn't have anything going. Every and I mean every single team has these games, the really good ones respond.

[Superiorblogman]

All that mess about this happens is trash. Players get injured too. It happens but it is always how you respond. 2 C's are now likely down. How will respond? Ignore it and go pick up something other than a C. A loss like this how will respond? With another one Saturday night. Team isn't any good because of how it is being run

[ATL Boy]

Well onto Philadelphia we go, it'll be a huge game in terms of early conference standings.

[HMFFL]

The game turned ugly FAST!

Teams plan for Joe Johnson and Josh Smith, so we must think outside of the box, but tonight that was not the case at all. We won't win games when Ivan Johnson and Willie Green are leading the team in attempts.

Memphis scored 58 of their points in the paint.

[SAUCERY_SWEET]

All that mess about this happens is trash. Players get injured too. It happens but it is always how you respond. 2 C's are now likely down. How will respond? Ignore it and go pick up something other than a C. A loss like this how will respond? With another one Saturday night. Team isn't any good because of how it is being run

Well at least you have hope but I'm not so sure.

[SAUCERY_SWEET]

The game turned ugly FAST!

Teams plan for Joe Johnson and Josh Smith, so we must think outside of the box, but tonight that was not the case at all. We won't win games when Ivan Johnson and Willie Green are leading the team in attempts.

Memphis scored 58 of their points in the paint.

Yes, this is one of those game where we really miss a Horford immensely because they did a number I heard on us inside.