A little rest for the weary? Both the Atlanta Hawks and tonight’s opponents, the Memphis Grizzlies (7:30 PM Eastern, SportSouth, FoxSports South in Memphis viewing area) each got to enjoy an extra day or two off before a couple of daunting schedules kick in.

For the Grit ‘n Grind Gang, the Atlanta game initiates a four-games-in-five-nights swing versus Eastern Conference teams preceding the All-Star break. They get the Cavaliers in Cleveland tomorrow night, then fly home to play the Wizards Tuesday before they’re back out to take on the Magic in Orlando Wednesday. Today’s the final home game before the break for the Hawks, who hit the road for back-to-backs in Chicago and Toronto, then head to Indiana after All-Star Weekend.

Memphis got on a roll after lynchpin center Marc Gasol returned to action in mid-January, after spraining his MCL in November. The Blue Bears went on an 8-1 stretch to move within a whisker of the Western Conference playoff teams. Then, another keystone, point guard and leading-scorer Mike Conley, sprained his ankle last Friday. Since then, the Griz won at home to white-flag Milwaukee, ran into the Kevin Durant buzzsaw in OKC, then fell apart at home in the second half to a team they’re chasing, the Mavericks.

Gasol struggled with just 12 points and 4 rebounds in 37 minutes against Dallas, who now sits 2.5 games ahead of Memphis in the West’s 8^th seed. He dished out 5 assists but also turned the ball over a season-high six times. Gasol is still playing through some discomfort in his knee, noting his MCL recovery “is not done.” In Memphis, Conley is perhaps as vital to MG as 8Ball is to MJG. Since mid-November, the Grizzlies are 13-2 with Conley, Gasol, and Zach Randolph all starting together. Six of Conley’s 13 assists came in the fourth quarter to fend off the Hawks in Memphis (108-101) back on January 12.

Jeff Teague and Shelvin Mack struggled to contain that kid rocking the Bride of Frankenstein hairdo on Wednesday. Brian Roberts has taken over for Jrue Holiday and his eight fourth-quarter points led a nightmarish close to the Hawks’ 105-100 loss in New Orleans. Today’s understudy challenge for Teague and Mack is “rookie” Nick Calathes, whose hairline is veering closer to Riff Raff’s from Rocky Horror following a couple years of international play.

After starring for the University of Florida, Calathes didn’t stick as a 2009 second-round draftee, finding his way onto Panathinaikos Athens and the Greek National Team, then won the Eurocup MVP with Lokomotiv Kuban in Russia. Now he’s had an up-and-down stretch filling in for Conley in the starting lineup. He’s averaged an impressive 15.3 PPG in his 3 starts (including a career-high 22 against the Bucks, and 16 versus the Mavs), shooting 51.4 FG%, but just 3.7 APG as he defers to the veterans to set up plays. His six three-pointers in the past three games exceed the five that he made in his previous 34 appearances.

To say Grizzlies fans are giddy about a couple of mid-season roster additions would be an understatement. Unshackled from Boston in the Jerryd Bayless trade, Courtney Lee (15 points on 7-for-12 shooting from the floor vs. Atlanta in January) has been granted a greenlight from Head Coach Dave Joerger, averaging 14.1 PPG while shooting 60.6% on two-pointers and 90.2 FT%. Hawks’ preseason castaway James Johnson (season-high 17 points vs. Dallas on Wednesday) has infused such defensive energy into games for the FedEx Forum faithful that the team has scheduled a “Neck Tattoo Night” giveaway for a home game in a couple weeks (Johnson’s tat “NAYMIN” is for his prematurely-born son, who turns 11 months old today).

Together with Tayshaun Prince, Johnson and Lee will likely collaborate to try and neutralize the similarly-well-tatted Mike Scott (team-leading 3 treys vs. Memphis in January) and the blazing-hot DeMarre Carroll (season-high 22 points on Wednedsay) around the perimeter.

Last name 10, first name 20. Zach Randolph has rebounded, literally, from a December shooting slump (40.8 FG% in December). With Gasol back to space the floor, Z-Bo boosted his scoring to 18.5 PPG and 11.8 RPG in January. He’s been living up to his moniker in the first three games this month (20.3 PPG, 10.7 RPG). Paul Millsap did a solid job (26 points, 10 rebounds) matching his fellow newly-minted All-Star Anthony Davis’ offense Wednesday. Playing tonight despite being a bit under the weather, he’ll need help at both ends of the floor from Elton Brand and Gustavo Ayón if the Atlanta frontcourt expects to outpace Randolph and Gasol.

After a failed experiment to speed things up in November , the reversion of Joerger’s offense to a Lionel Hollins-style halfcourt tempo is now complete (89.7 possessions per 48 minutes, 30^th in NBA). They still don’t exactly dig the longball (17.4% 3-point attempts/FGA, lowest in NBA), but with players like Mike Miller (41.5 3FG%), Jon Leuer (47.4 3FG%), Calathes (39.3 3FG%) and now Lee (40.9 3FG%) in tow, Memphis is willing to trade off volume (Atlanta’s 30.3% three-point attempt rate ranks 2^nd in NBA) for efficiency. The Hawks need to stay close to these guys near the end of shot clock, and must be ready to push the ball and score in transition off missed shots.

Go Hawks!

~lw3