Who around here wants some Mediocre?

Apparently, not Clifford Harris, Jr. (you can call him “T.I.”, if you prefer). Good ballers only!

This Douglas High School dropout-turned-three-time Grammy-winning rap artist knows a thing or two about Bankhead-bouncing back from a spell of bad publicity, or two, or three… Who better to T.I.P.-off the Atlanta Hawks’ home opener at the Highlight Factory than The Rubberband Man, who’s still got fam from Peru to Japan?

With a packed house yellin’, who will the Hawks’ Hustle Gang be fellin’? The Indiana Pacers (7:30 PM Eastern, SportSouth), that’s who!

Hold up… ((record scratch)) are you sure THOSE are the Indiana Pacers? You know, those same cats that escaped the Hawks’ clutches in seven games last season? Okay, whatever. Bring Em Out, Bring Em Out!

When Pacer fans ask how you doin’, you tell ‘em “Better than you!” After clinching the East’s top seed and reaching the Conference Finals last season, the Pacers’ prospects for title contention wound up Dead and Gone before the calendar could even roll to September. In the space of a few weeks this summer, they lost superstar Paul George to the season-long I.R. and mega-pest Lance Stephenson to the Hornets via free agency. Then the cuts became even more unkind with a rash of preseason injuries: point guard George Hill (knee bruise), power forward David West (ankle), backup point guard C.J. Watson (foot) are all missing time.

This spell of crappy fortune results in the recently contract-extended Head Coach Frank Vogel leaving ballhandling duties largely to a man who got his first cup of NBA tea in January 2012, playing against the Pacers in a Hawks uniform on a ten-day contract. Donald Sloan was on the depth chart behind Jeff Teague and Jannero Pargo, but was clearly the best point guard on the floor that day. Sloan’s acquitted himself quite nicely so far in two games, averaging 14.0 PPG and 7.5 APG while shooting 46 percent from the floor in about 35 minutes per night.

Still, Indy’s pretty thin at the point behind Sloan, relying on scorers like C.J. Miles and perennial Hawks Killer Rodney Stuckey (46.0 career FG% vs. Atlanta, most vs. any Eastern team) to save the day. The Pacers tallied just 19 assists and committed 18 turnovers while hosting Memphis last night. ATL needs “The Ones” (Teague, the option-accepted Dennis Schröder, and Shelvin Mack) to skate all over Indiana’s crew like Mario Lemieux. Mack (1-for-6 FGs but 5 assists in 15 minutes vs. Toronto) and Schröder have to defend better, while Teague can’t be as sloppy with the ball (6 of the Hawks’ 17 turnovers) as he was against the Raptors. Atlanta's wing defenders can help with the occasional Trap (not that kind) to put the Pacers under additional pressure.

There should be No Mercy for the Pacers coming in on the second night of a back-to-back. The Grizzlies’ Grindhouse defense bared its teeth in the third quarter on Friday, Memphis making a 26-2 run after Indiana blazed to an 8-point halftime lead. The Pacers seem to have just enough firepower to give opponents two really good quarters of competition. They allowed the lowly Sixers to go into halftime on Wednesday with a 3-point lead on their floor before pulling away in the second half.

Don’t You Know We Got Kyle By The Three? Hey Vogel, What You Know about that? No one from the corner three-spots has Swagga Like Us right now. Now, you never want to rely on your shooting guard to have to go 6-for-7 from downtown every night just to keep you in the game. But it’s nice to have that efficiency in your back pocket on occasion, Kyle Korver teaming up with Mike Scott (4-for-6) and DeMarre Carroll (2-for-3) to fill up the buckets in Toronto at a 59 percent clip. The Pacers will try to counter Money Mike off the bench with shot-jacking Chris Copeland as well as 28-year-old Yugoslavian rookie Damjan Rudez, a 6-foot-10 forward who connected on three of his four three-point attempts versus Memphis.

The Hawks have to start shooting at least that well at the free throw line, and not the lousy 52 percent they shot against the Raptors. Toronto’s bigs never got into foul trouble on Wednesday, offering trips the foul line to only four Hawks. Atlanta’s guards and wings have to demonstrate better balance by attacking Indiana’s interior, giving Al Horford and Paul Millsap (9 of Atlanta’s 10 O-boards in Toronto) opportunities to clean up on the glass and score inside.

You never want to leave any Tiny cracks open for other playas to exploit. For the Hawks, that means boxing out when the clanked shots come from the Pacers. Toronto managed to get 26 second-chance points on the strength of 16 offensive boards.

There’s no reason Why You Wanna let the Pacers build any confidence while playing shorthanded in their first road contest. Yet Indiana will stay in this game so long as Roy Hibbert (22 points, 8 rebounds, 7 blocks versus Philly), Ian Mahinmi, Luis Scola, and starting power forward (by default) Solomon Hill are allowed to cherry-pick and get Whatever They Like around the rim. The Hawks’ wings must do their job and keep the lanes clear for their double-double machines (Millsap and Horford) to do their thing.

It’s Saturday Night! Let’s get some Big Things Poppin’! Ball! Ball! Ball! Ball!

Let’s Go Hawks!

~lw3