GT: Charlotte @ Atlanta Dec 28th - 7:30pm ET

[BigSlam]

Be good to bounce back with a win tonight after last nights disappointing loss.

No Horford will go a long way in helping.

Lou Williams worries me though.

[lmcguir5]

Jeff Teague vs. Kemba - Kemba is going to have a tough assignment tonight. Teague is starting to look like he has turned the corner and is making the Hawks look smart for matching the Bucks' offer sheet this summer. He had great numbers against the Cavs and hit the game winner, so Kemba is going to have to be on his game in this one

Advantage: Even

Hendo vs. Korver - Henderson has had some lackluster games lately and hasn't been hitting that baseline jumper that he was making his money on. Korver is an old time sharpshooter and could murder us from three point range if we're not careful. Make no mistake if you leave him open, he can single handedly sink you on a given night.

Advantage: Korver

Tolliver vs. Carroll - Tolliver has been playing better since his increase in minutes, but I'm still not comfortable with him starting against any SF in the NBA. Carroll is a solid player for the Hawks, they don't ask him to do much, rather just stay within himself. If Tolliver can find his three ball early, he could take the advantage here.

Advantage: Even

McBob vs. Millsap - Not much needs to be said here. Millsap has been one of the better PF in the NBA this season and looks to me like the smartest offseason signing.

Advantage: Millsap

Jefferson vs. Antic/Brand/Ayon - Jefferson should dominate whoever the Hawks replace Horford with. Brand is clearly past his prime, Ayon is a backup at best and Antic is the rookie of the group. I'm expecting a big game from Jefferson

Advantage: Jefferson

Bench Depth - Both teams feature some good bench depth. The Hawks have especially nice depth in the frontcourt and I think the Bobcats win the backcourt depth. If Sesh can provide some nice minutes tonight off the bench and Gordon has an ok game, we should win the battle of the benches. Zeller is going to have to play better than he did last night if we expect to hang with the Hawks. I still have no faith in CDR, he's going to have to show me more. I think the Hawks win this matchup though, as their quality in backup bigs is much better than ours

Advantage: Hawks

It's going to take a mistake free game from the Bobcats tonight if we want to win. We cannot have the same amount of turnovers as last night, ball security is crucial. I truly think this game comes down to the battle of the benches. Which team will have the best production in the third quarter and the beginning to the middle of the fourth?

Go Cats!

[HornetJail]

I think Kemba can take Teague. Jefferson should easily outplay all the other centers for the Hawks. Wouldn't be surprised to see Millsap try to defend his old teammate.

[fatlever]

not gonna say this is a "must win" game, but if we are really serious about being a playoff team, this is a game we need to win.

we also need to win at least 1 game on our 4 game trip out west (utah and sacto are winnable games). 2-3 on roadtrip is minimum.

if hendo plays well, i think we win.

[JDR720]

this should be a win, but they're not on a back to back so it'll be a hard fought game even w/o Al Horford

[fatlever]

brand starting for the hawks tonight

[mrknowitall215]

Kemba Walker should be able to out-duel Jeff Teague in tonight's contest. Teague won't be able to pick apart the Bobcats defense using Elton Brand/Pero Antic in the pick & roll with the same effectiveness he did with Al Horford. It'll still have some varying success due to Brand/Antic being able to shoot out to the perimeter, and Al Jefferson's weakness to defend it, but it won't share near the same efficiency without Horford being the drawback

[mrknowitall215]

Game #31: Bobcats @ Hawks Preview + Clifford calls team out + latest PodCats episode

Last night: Doug Branson, Peter Haley and myself recapped Buzz City night and the unveiling of the Hornets new logo on the PodCats Show. Plus, we previewed the Thunder game last night in which Charlotte dropped another tight one. If you don’t regularly listen to PodCats every Tuesday and Friday LIVE at 6 PM ET. Well, you should.

Podcats Show >>> http://tdbsports.com/2013/12/27/podcats-12-27-13/

Tonight, Charlotte will take on the Hawks in Atlanta and it certainly won’t be an easy one — the team had to jump on a flight late last night after the loss at home to OKC to get to ATL.
Although this game will come on the heels of a back-to-back, I wouldn’t expect to see a team with no energy tonight – Head coach Steve Clifford used his post-game press conference last night as an opportunity to call out his team and their effort. That’s interesting, because to most fans the reaction was that we fought hard against another one of the leagues best teams, but Clifford thought otherwise.

Clifford Quotes Post-Game:

“Our attention to detail was not good at all. Some of the things that we talked about this morning (yesterday’s shoot-around) that we have to do, we did a poor job with.”

I asked Clifford to elaborate on the lack of energy he saw in his team….

“I would say to me tonight it was a lack of concentration, a lack of diligence, a lack of attention to detail. You know, again, one of the things that we’ve been good at is the things that we walk-through in mornings during shoot-arounds, we take away (from the opponent) during games. And like, for this team (OKC), they’re a very good, smart, cutting team – you saw it, they had six to seven backdoor layups – now we’ve played weeks here as a team where we’ve taken all of those away.”

“The guys that we had on the floor tonight are smart guys, and to me the performance is not acceptable – and they know it, they know it.”

- So again, after what Clifford came out and said after the game last night, I wouldn’t expect the Bobcats to play without energy and attention tonight.

Atlanta will be without Al Horford for what many fear to be 3-4 months. Horford tore his right pectoral muscle on Thursday night in Cleveland and it will require surgery. Gustavo Ayon is expected to start for the Hawks at center in his place.
Tonight will be the first of five road games coming up in-a-row for Charlotte, so getting started off on the right foot for this road trip is extremely important.

http://queencityhoops.com/blog/2013/12/ ... s-episode/

[freakon0mics]

Kemba Walker should be able to out-duel Jeff Teague in tonight's contest. Teague won't be able to pick apart the Bobcats defense using Elton Brand/Pero Antic in the pick & roll with the same effectiveness he did with Al Horford. It'll still have some varying success due to Brand/Antic being able to shoot out to the perimeter, and Al Jefferson's weakness to defend it, but it won't share near the same efficiency without Horford being the drawback

Kemba vs Teague should be the matchup to watch tonight. Don't think Teague can keep up with Kemba. Kemba can beat you outside or driving in. The last time we played against the Hawks, Al was not at full strength also. It will be interesting for us now that he has a full month of games played already plus no Horford to worry about.

[mrknowitall215]

Kemba Walker should be able to out-duel Jeff Teague in tonight's contest. Teague won't be able to pick apart the Bobcats defense using Elton Brand/Pero Antic in the pick & roll with the same effectiveness he did with Al Horford. It'll still have some varying success due to Brand/Antic being able to shoot out to the perimeter, and Al Jefferson's weakness to defend it, but it won't share near the same efficiency without Horford being the drawback

Kemba vs Teague should be the matchup to watch tonight. Don't think Teague can keep up with Kemba. Kemba can beat you outside or driving in. The last time we played against the Hawks, Al was not at full strength also. It will be interesting for us now that he has a full month of games played already plus no Horford to worry about.

At full strength or not, Horford had 24 points on 9 of 15 shooting in just 31 minutes of play versus the Bobcats in their last outing, and pretty much ruined any chance of Charlotte keeping it close anytime he was on the floor. It's also overblown that Teague outplayed Kemba as he only made 4 of his 14 attempts at the basket, but he had shooters & the latter didn't. I think it was Cartier Martin that was the X-factor in the previous contest

[JDR720]

Elton Brand starting? watch him go back to Clippers 20/10 beast mode Elton Brand

[mrknowitall215]

Elton Brand starting? watch him go back to Clippers 20/10 beast mode Elton Brand

...only if Jefferson doesn't step out on his midrange, which is 75% likely that he won't

[JDR720]

DeMarre Carroll might not play...he didn't practice yesterday and is a game time decision

[Elden Payton]

Surely we beat them without Horford?

I'm disappointed Horford got hurt though, he's a player that I can't help but admire.

[lmcguir5]

I wouldn't say we surely beat them, but I definitely like our chances

[JDR720]

[tweet]https://twitter.com/ajchawks/status/417081943260278784[/tweet]

[catch20two]

[tweet]https://twitter.com/ajchawks/status/417081943260278784[/tweet]

Of course he couldn't miss out on what he think might be his opportunity for a career high against the lowly Bobcats. I swear I hope we put a shellacking on the Hawks. I hate the fact that a team as middling as them is so hard for us to beat over the years.

[JDR720]

Gerald better stick to Korver like superglue on duct tape

[lmcguir5]

They're not a bad team, they just play well together. Even with Horford we're going to have to play a nice game to come out with the W.

[Seven11]

No Horford. No Hawks. He's been the common denominator of their success for years now. Hope we win this one big tonight. I just wanted to drop in and send my luck before the game got started. Go Bobcats! Go Hornets!