The Atlanta Hawks appear to be stuck in the Land of the Lost. That perception adds a dash of irony to their game against tonight’s opponent, the Toronto Raptors (7:00 PM Eastern, SportSouth, TSN2).

The matchup with Atlanta’s favorite Atlantic Division team (#netswatch) is yet another case where the opponents will be aiming to shake off a Hawks Hex. Atlanta has come up to Air Canada Centre and vanquished the hosts in five consecutive outings. The last Raptors home win against the Hawks came on St. Patty’s Day 2010, when they needed last-minute heroics from Chris Bosh to overcome Mo Evans’ 16 points (in place of an injured Joe Johnson) and Jamal Crawford’s 33-point bonanza off the bench.

These modern-day Hawks come in having dropped four straight, getting savaged on the interior while making do without Al Horford or a viable substitute. Last night, Joakim Noah looked as fresh as Yannick did in 1983, controlling both ends of the floor against an outclassed Gustavo Ayón, while tag teaming with Taj Gibson and Jimmy Butler to keep Paul Millsap and the Hawks off the glass.

If you can call it a break, the Hawks actually got one when the Bulls’ leading scorer, Carlos Boozer, had to sit out of the Tuesday night game. They may get another one tonight, as starting power forward and extreme Christmas-tree-topper Amir Johnson (54.2 FG%, 2.4 offensive RPG) remains questionable after bruising an ankle. While the Bulls had an established defensive stalwart in Taj Gibson ready to step up and dominate the action, Head Coach Dwane Casey would need another stellar outing from Patrick Patterson (season-high 22 points in a win against New Orleans on Monday) to neutralize Millsap.

Kyle Lowry struggled on defense to contain the passing wizardry of Jeff Teague (12 assists, 1 turnover) in their first meeting of the season, a 102-95 Hawks victory at Philips Arena way back on November 1. Of course, that was November Kyle Lowry, whose play was so bad that GM Masai Ujiri heaved leading scorer Rudy Gay to Sacramento just to get Lowry some competition (Greivis Vasquez) and all but declare him trade bait going forward.

As it turned out, Gay was merely stunting the progress of not only Lowry but All-Star wing DeMar DeRozan (team-leading 22.2 PPG). Lowry boosted his production from 13.5 PPG and 6.3 APG (43.8 FG%; 37.6 3FG%) in October/November to 18.3 PPG and 8.2 APG (45.3 FG%; 44.1 3FG%) in January, helping the Raps rise out from the doldrums of the East.

Now, as the trade deadline draws near, he’s gone from a trade certainty to a likely mainstay in a matter of months. Earning ample minutes (36.3 MPG, 13^th in NBA) on the floor while Vasquez continues to disappoint, Lowry has since surpassed Jeff Teague in the assists per game rankings, at 7.5 APG to Teague’s 7.2.

It remains to be seen if Lowry is coming back to Earth now that the All-Star push has concluded. But through five February games he has dropped to 16.8 PPG and 6.8 APG, while shooting just 41.4 FG% (27.6 3FG%) and again struggling to disrupt opponents’ passing games (Pelicans Brian Roberts and Tyreke Evans combined for 41 points and 12 assists on Monday). For his part, Lowry is coming off a near triple-double against the Pelicans on Monday (19 points, 12 assists, 7 rebounds). Tonight will be his final chance to showcase himself in the event an emergency All-Star injury replacement becomes necessary.

Up in Ontario, only Rob Ford and Justin Bieber get as high on the regular than DeRozan and reigning All-Star Dunk Contest champ Terrence Ross. Unless the Hawks want to have an unfortunate feature role in All-Star Weekend previews, they must get bodies out in front of these two guys in transition, and keep lanes to the rim closed in their halfcourt defense.

DeRozan gets a little too satisfied with the jump shots outside of the paint (9.0 mid-range FG attempts, 4^th most in NBA; 39.5 mid-range FG%), so it will be crucial to keep Patterson and Jonas Valanciunas off the offensive glass, something the Hawks failed to do last night in the Windy City. You also want Ross not only away from the rim on the fastbreak, but off the 3-point line when uncontested (40.0 3FG%, compared to just 42.4 2FG%).

Valanciunas (team-leading 8.7 RPG) may be a little more ornery than usual coming into tonight. Still coming of age, JV was particularly chippy after absorbing a People’s Elbow from New Orleans’ Greg Stiemsma, getting called for a technical after trying to return the favor. He quickly got himself in foul trouble as the Pelicans made their late charge to nearly erase an 18-point lead. Casey, for his part, is pleading for his young center to channel his emotions toward sound, tough basketball play.

“We just need clean physicality: screening. That, to me, is nasty,” Casey told the National Post on Tuesday. “Setting a screen is nasty. Boxing out is nasty. Those are the kind of nasty things we need. We don’t need elbows. We don’t need [demonstrative] facial expressions.”

As in previous seasons, the Dinos still remain a bunch of Hackasauruses. Only the Kings rack up more personal foul calls than the Raps (22.7 personals per game, 2^nd most in NBA). Johnson's 3.6 fouls per game ranks 4^th in the league, while Lowry's 3.3 average ranks 6^th and leads all NBA guards, with Valanciunas (3.1 personal fouls/game) not far behind.

However, their opponents only average 24.2 free throw shots per game (14^th most in NBA), so a lot of the whistles are apparently from Toronto committing non-shooting and offensive fouls. Still, the hesitancy and pump-faking from Ayón and the Hawks that Chicago refused to bite on may work more favorably against the defensively hyper, less-disciplined Raptors.

With Ross and now possibly Patterson promoted to the starting lineup, bench production is a challenge for Casey’s crew. On the season, Toronto’s reserves put up just 25.9 PPG (26^th in NBA, 2^nd fewest in East) while shooting just 41.9 FG% (25^th in NBA). Despite a horrid first half, experimental subject Lou Williams (an eventual 13 points vs. Chicago, on 6-for-11 shooting) and key Hawks bench players (Elton Brand, Mike Scott) made a single-digit game out of what was turning into a laugher for the Bulls. These guys will be needed to build an advantage for the Hawks on the scoreboard, relative to the detritus Toronto has to occasionally trot out (Vasquez, Tyler Hansbrough, Quincy Acy, Steve Novak, Chuck Hayes) due to their starters’ persistent foul troubles.

Go Hawks!

~lw3