3/12 Pacers @ Hawks

[ATL DirtyBird]

This team has once again proved they can beat anyone. The Pacers aren't a joke but we should be able to put this team away by halftime. Marvin is out indefinately, put will not have surgery, he's just gonna have treatment and rest. Hope we play energized defense agdin.

Go Hawks!!!

[jtmoney]

Any news on Granger's return?

[daschysta]

granger has targeted this game back for his return. Officially day to day but I would expect him in.

Were not nearly the team we are at home that we are on the road but I still expect a good game.

Good Luck!

[raleigh]

Were not nearly the team we are at home that we are on the road but I still expect a good game.

Sounds familiar.

[NDaATL]

Yeah it does. We really need this win since we have so many tough games coming up, but Indy always seems to play us well. TJ always kills us and it sucks that Granger will return against us.

[evildallas]

Line varies between Hawks by 5.5 to 6 with the o/u at 207.5 to 208.

I'm taking the Hawks and the under, but I fear and respect the Pacers. They always seem to tear it up from deep. I expected better things from this year after fleecing the Raptors, but injuries have been too plentiful for them to build any real momentum.

[ATL DirtyBird]

It says that Granger is iffy about coming back tonight and if he doesnt come back tonight he will be back sunday against the Craptors. I wont be able to watch the game but hopefully we get the much needed W tonight.

Go Hawks!

[HicksvsKnicks08]

but I fear and respect the Pacers.

Appreciate that. Likewise

The Pacers have only been out of a handful of games this season. We have beaten Boston/LA/Cleveland/Orlando/Denver etc. but have also lost to the Clippers. Our biggest problem is the run into cold streaks, and since the fact our defense suck, teams make runs and we can go 6 plus minutes without scoring. The one thing I respect though is Pacers give all out effort and play as a team, which gives them a chance to win. We beat some tough teams on the road without Granger and lost to Portland on the road at the buzzer.

The match up Im looking forward to tonight is Hibbert/ZaZa(I think) and Marquis on Joe Johnson. Marquis has been really solid for us this year, and is a restricted free agent after the year.

What seems to be the talk on the board regarding Bibby/Williams and if they should/will resign?

Good luck, should be a fun down to the wire game
I think whoever wins the rebounding battle, wins the game

[tontoz]

Smith needs to stop settling for that hook and start trying to get all the way to the rim.

[HMFFL]

Been looking forward to this game to see Roy Hibbert against Al Horford. I hope Roy becomes an impact player down the road.

[johnny878]

mo evans sucks.

[johnny878]

wow i am wishing they played mario west more throughout the season.

[tontoz]

The hawks look horrible. what a joke.

[HoopsGuru25]

Hibbert is playing welL. Zaza and Al are having trouble with him.

I haven't seen many Pacers games but Ford(like Devin Harris)seems like he plays with a chip on his shoulder against the Hawks....or maybe he just really likes going up against Mike Bibby. I wonder if the Pacers will shop Ford with the recent news about them losing money.

[HoopsGuru25]

I can't take much out of this game besides the Hawks falling asleep and falling down 13 to a team w/o their best player. They played well enough in the 3rd to put Indy away though. Roy Hibbert had a very weird game. He had 14 and 6(i believe)in the 1st half but only had 15 and 7 now. All 7 were offensive rebounds. Horford had a much better 2nd half and Joe had another big game. Hopefully we are getting last year's post allstar game Joe from here on out.

[Retrovision]

37 +1 wtf is hollinger saying now?

[evildallas]

37 +1 wtf is hollinger saying now?

Just got home from a stress-filled ACC session and I was looking for someone to point out the Hawks have exceeded last year's win total. He overvalued Josh Childress impact on the team (was in his preview snippet) and underestimated 3 big things:
1) the contract year affect on Bibby - he played okay last year after the trade which was basically him recovering from injury as well, but it was possible that age-related drop was in effect. Nothing like an ending contract to spur a proud vet to prove he's not on E.

2) the value of Flip addition as a bench scoring threat - for years the bench scoring was provided by Ty Lue who surrenders more points than he scores. Flip does it while playing reasonable defense. Furthermore, he can shot jump shots, but he can also create his own shot and get to the rim. Ty Lue could shoot jumpers.

3) the general boost of making the playoffs on the players and coaches especially in confidence. I expected in the players, but I didn't expect it to show in Woodson. Don't get me wrong, I will still probably dislike him forever, but it seems like he thinks he can win in tight situations whereas years 1-4 you could almost hear the inner thoughts of "please don't let me screw this up."

Still got a long way to go, but we're further along the road than before.

[Skyhawk1]

JJ has been terrific lately. Nice adjustment by Horford in the 2nd half, he had a great game. Everytime J. Smith isn't the 2nd option for us, the Hawks play good basketball. It's nice to see Woody using his bench this much even though the 2nd unit was bad in the 1st half. One more thing, Hilbert is better than Zaza, and I'm talking about a rookie who can't move his feet to save his life... lol

[DeShaunRed]

Congrats Hawks!!

I actually thought the Hawks are gonna lose this one, but I guess they're unilke before (20% convinced) when they flat out stink the second half and just roll over and die.

Next up is Portland.

[HoopsGuru25]

OT but I really dislike the Miami Heat. They are the luckiest team in the league.