Wed: Toronto @ Atlanta

[HMFFL]

Atlanta is favored to win by 9 points.

Over/Under 213.5


Toronto failed to help us tonight against Washington, but Boston beat Charlotte.

The Southeast:

Milwaukee @ Washington
New York @ Orlando

[killbuckner]

I'll just say that I think that Atlanta is vulnerable to teams that crash the boards and have a penetrating PG that can really take advantage of Bibby and get the Hawks completely jumbled with the switching defense. This description does not AT all apply to the Raptors. This is a great matchup for the hawks.

[azuresou1]

We better win this. Toronto's defense is terrible. Smoove/Al should abuse Bosh/Bargnani on the boards all night.

I rag on Joe a lot, but this has to be the best matchup he can hope for. Rookie SG defending him, no interior defense? If he still does that stupid semi-post floater in the paint instead of driving right past his man into the likely empty paint, I'm gonna be raged.

Bibby/Calderon will be epic in its total disregard for defense and inability to exploit it.

[PowerHouse]

Lineups

Toronto
Ball handlers: Calderon, Hedo
Wing: DeRozan
PF: Bosh, Bargnani

Atlanta
Ball handlers: Bibby, Johnson
Combo Foward: Williams
PF: Josh, Horford

Notes
1) Toronto has a bigger lineup, Atlanta has an athletic lineup
2) Both ball handlers for Atlanta work well off the ball, Both ball handlers don't work well off the ball
3) Atlanta has 2 natural shot blockers, Toronto has none

Prediction
Highs
Pts: Crawford, 38
Reb: Smith, 15
Ast: 3 Tied with 7 (Bibby, Johnson, Calderon)
Blk: Smith, 7
Stl: Smith, 4

I am a Raptors fan, but I got to say, the Hawks have this one wrapped up
BoxScore
TOR: 32, 25, 20, 30 = 107
ATL: 27, 30, 37, 22 = 116


Also, the Raptors are 0-3 on the second of a back-to-back.
@Dallas, 129-101
@Utah, 104-91
@Charlotte, 116-81

[killbuckner]

I'll also take the Over in this game. Toronto has no one who can really stop Joe or Crawford. The Raptors are going to score a lot of points no matter who they play. People think of the Hawks as a good defensive team that is just OK on offense but this season its been the opposite.

[sortpar]

Lineups

Also, the Raptors are 0-3 on the second of a back-to-back.
@Dallas, 129-101
@Utah, 104-91
@Charlotte, 116-81

And in each case (just like the game tonight), the opposing team has had at least three days of rest to prepare for the next game. Although in this case, I think the Hawks would win regardless of whether the game is a back to back or just a regularly scheduled home game.

[PowerHouse]

Lineups

Also, the Raptors are 0-3 on the second of a back-to-back.
@Dallas, 129-101
@Utah, 104-91
@Charlotte, 116-81

And in each case (just like the game tonight), the opposing team has had at least three days of rest to prepare for the next game. Although in this case, I think the Hawks would win regardless of whether the game is a back to back or just a regularly scheduled home game.

completely agree

[MaceCase]

I wonder how our forwards will deal with not one but two bigs drawing them out to the perimeter. I wonder if they can be comfortable and effective doing that.

[Russ369]

Raptors fan here:

[SAUCERY_SWEET]

Raptors fan here:

Hawks fan here:

[t2thadot]

I see the raptors winning this one. Bosh is going to destroy the hawks front court. I see him going off for 40. Good Luck.

[JoshB914]

did anyone else's feed just go out for a minute or so on FSN? They really have no idea how to make this work there.

[JoshB914]

What is Triano thinking taking Bosh out just five minutes into the game?

[ATL DirtyBird]

Another horrible at crowd at Phillips.
Great qtr by Josh. Great usage of the bench and good qtr by Joe to play within the offense and get his teamates involved.

[evildallas]

Feel guilty, couldn't get down to the game, but didn't find out until it was too late to get my tickets to someone who could use them. Hawks have looked good tonight.

Find myself wondering about how bad the Raptors look. They appear much better on paper than they are showing on the floor. I thought they were going to be weak on D, but ouch.

[HoopsGuru25]

Wow. Toronto needs to man up.

[Harry10]

70 points? geez,..... just keep it up, don't get jump shot happy and keep up the energy and defense and be prepared for a little run when Bosh comes back in. lets keep the blow out through the 3rd so that we can see Teague play the whole 4th quarter.

[JoshB914]

What I like about that half is we came out inspired and intense. This is a game where we could have easily cruised and just taken control in the fourth quarter like we have so many times. Obviously the Raptors coming to town doesn't inspire such an effort, but the disappointment of the loss in Detroit definitely did. Hopefully the Hawks learned something from that game and they will start to show this sort of renewed effort and get back on track this week.

In other news, what the hell is going on with Toronto? Why is Triano taking Bosh out early in the first quarter and leaving him on the bench (not in foul trouble) while we continue to dominate in the paint? Why are half of their players just jogging back on defense? Why is Dermarr DeRozan just grabbing at anything anyone that tries to go up around the basket? They are a real disaster although obviously they have better offensive evenings than this.

Now time to get this lead up to 30 and get Teague some serious minutes.

[orlandomike]

did anyone miss a shot in that game?

[cavsfan_osiris]

December 29th and 30th should be fun times guys, can't wait. The Hawks are for real.