The undulating competition level for the Atlanta Hawks continues tonight as a suddenly well-rested club is in Philadelphia, woofing down cheesesteaks and ready to take on the 76ers (7:30 PM Eastern, SportSouth, CSN Philly).

The Gods of Gridlock intervened right on time for a Hawks team that just finished another string of three games in four nights, the final contest a spirited yet crushing defeat at the hands of Kevin Durant and the Refs Oklahoma City Thunder, the top team in the league. The winter weather and subsequent snafu that snarled Atlanta for days kept the Detroit Pistons in Motown on Wednesday. The cancelled game effectively gave the Hawks a couple days off before kicking off their next back-to-back affair, as the Timberwolves and Hawks will arrive back at Philips Arena for a game tomorrow evening, Traffic willing.

The Sixers (15-31) rolled into the new year on a nice Road Warrior-style four-game winning streak. They hope not to roll out of January like a lamb. They’ve dropped seven of their last eight games at Wells Fargo Center, most of those deficits by double-digits. But after Evan Turner’s buzzer-beater slapped an ugly bow on the worst month of basketball in the Boston Celtics’ history, it’s Philly (the players, not so much the fans) that is hoping to go on just the third winning streak of their up-and-mostly-down season.

Who He Play For? Charles Barkley would scratch his glossy dome with fervor if presented with the names and/or faces of Hollis Thompson, Elliot Williams, Dewayne Dedmon (there’s an obvious joke awaiting everytime he gets called for traveling), Lorenzo Brown, Arnett Moultrie and/or Brandon Davies. What would otherwise make for a stout lineup for the Delaware 87ers is filling out the end of the bench for Head Coach Brett Brown’s squad and (with exception to Moultrie, who is awaiting his season debut after an offseason ankle injury) getting around 10-15 minutes of NBA floor burn per night.

Most of their deployment is intended by Brown to help reduce the wear-and-tear on the true healthy talents remaining on the Sixers’ roster. Players like Turner (career-high 18.5 PPG), Thaddeus Young (career-high 17.3 PPG), and Spencer Hawes (career-highs 14.0 PPG, 1.7 3FG/game, 42.0 3FG%, 8.7 RPG) are all balling at a breakneck pace (league-leading 99.6 possessions per 48 minutes). They are wearing their precious hearts out on the floor, not really to help the team win much, but rather to enhance their own trade-bait-ability as the deadline looms closer.

The motor that keeps Brown’s offense sputtering along is super-rookie Michael Carter-Williams, the dazzling 6-foot-6 point guard who leads all rookies in points, assists, and even rebounds (17.2 PPG. 6.7 APG, 5.6 RPG).

Lacking any assistance from shelved rookie teammate Nerlens Noel, MCW (40.1 FG%, 69.9 FT%) has to spin an awful lot of straw, given the shallow depth and experience of the talent surrounding him. Carter-Williams’ overall offense is thus emblematic of a team that ranks second in the league in shots (88.5 field goal attempts per game) but has the second-worst efficiency (100.0 points per 100 possessions), shooting just 44.0 percent (23^rd in NBA; 31.7 3FG%, 29^th in NBA) while committing a league-high 16.9 turnovers per game.

If Jeff Teague (a gametime decision for tonight after resting an ankle sprain) can go, he’ll need to find a way to offset MCW’s offensive production. Teague looked every bit the All-Star that Kenny Smith imagines he is during the Hawks’ 113-103 victory over the Sixers in Atlanta on November 15. While MCW was sidelined due to injury, Jeff got to the free throw line in a jiffy (12-for-13 FTs), and led the way with 33 points (career-high for a regulation game) and 10 assists.

If Teague sits again, his duties will fall to Shelvin Mack (15 points, 7 assists and 1 turnover vs. OKC), who was dumped by the Sixers around this time last season after a pair of 10-days, and probably fellow rookie Dennis Schröder, who had a surprisingly strong offensive game (10 points in 13 minutes, 4-for-6 shooting) off the bench versus OKC. Generating points off of turnovers will be crucial for Atlanta, as will keeping MCW from getting shots in the paint (48.1 FG% inside, 31.0 FG% outside).

Philadelphia’s chances of pulling off a victory often depend on the ability of up-and-comers Tony Wroten and (former Hawks preseason favorite) James Anderson to go for career nights. Wroten ranks 9^th in the league for usage (28.1 plays per 100 possessions), the second-highest rate among non-All-Stars. So when he comes off the bench, he isn’t looking to pass. Altogether, don’t be surprised to see a couple Sixer performances that light up the boxscores in a losing effort.

The losses pile up because players like Turner and Hawes (not a Tom Hanks movie) rarely demonstrate any capacity to make stops on defense. The Sixers give up a whopping 109.5 points per contest. Carter-Williams (2.4 SPG) and Young (2.1 SPG) rank third and fourth in the league in thefts per game, but they often have to leave their man to bail out their defensively flawed teammates, and the Sixers’ defensive rotations are poor. Atlanta’s ball movement (25.4 team APG, 1^st in NBA) should be all the more confounding for opponents in the City of Brotherly Shove than it was in OKC.

He’s been back home for two seasons now, but Philadelphia is still LouWillVille. Lou Williams admits he’s still giddy about the town where he cut his teeth as a fresh-faced phenom out of high school. The feeling is mutual for the man who grew to embrace his sixth-man role, helped the Sixers reach four playoff seasons over a stretch of five transitional years, and once talked his way out of a carjacking there. Williams is eager to make up for his disappointing performance during his return to Philly last season (4-for-12 shooting and 4 turnovers, amid a bad 99-80 Hawks loss in December 2012).

Back when the Sixers took a magical carpet ride to within a game of the 2012 Eastern Conference Finals, Williams was their leading scorer in the regular season, and their top offensive rebounder was Elton Brand. You can be sure Brand recalls that his eight-figure salary was amnesthetized (and Williams’ free agency exception rights renounced) the following summer so the Sixers could clear the way for the coming of their savior, Andrew Bynum. Brand should have a good mental scouting report on his former teammate Hawes, who will use his perimeter shot to draw bigs out of the paint.

Hawes doesn’t stay at home terribly often himself, so when he does, Paul-Star Millsap, DeMarre Carroll and the Hawks’ driving guards should not hesitate take turns converging toward the rim. Opponents take a league-high 10.4 shots at the rim with Hawes in the vicinity, shooting 51.5 FG%. Young (3.2 SPG in his last 10 games) will have his work cut out for him accounting for Millsap while providing help elsewhere on the floor.

A former Sixers second-rounder, just like Williams, got his big break in the 215. Kyle Korver holds the team’s all-time record for three-pointers in a season, and ranks second in Sixer annals for three-point and free throw shooting percentages. He nailed three of his five three-point tries during the Hawks’ November win, and should find himself far more open along the perimeter than he did when he was sandwiched by Kevin Durant and Thabo Sefolosha on Monday.

Go Hawks!

~lw3